La Cialcon Srl: Digital Decoration on Ice Cream Wafers, Flexibility and Productivity In-Line

Context and Objective

In the ice cream and pastry industry, wafer decoration has increasingly become a key element of added value. La Cialcon, a company specializing in wafer production, decided to invest in direct digital decoration to offer its customers a personalized, recognizable, and competitive product.

The goal was clear: to integrate food-grade digital printing directly on wafers, ensuring high productivity, consistent quality, and maximum graphic flexibility, an industrial solution capable of transforming the production process into a genuine marketing and service tool.

Customer Requirements

La Cialcon operates four output lines after the oven, but a single decoration line was no longer sufficient to meet growing demand. The company needed a solution that would allow simultaneous decoration across all lines, without sacrificing the graphic variety required by different customers.

Xlogic was therefore asked to design a system with one dedicated printer per output, capable of maintaining speed, reliability, and instant image changes based on each production batch.

Tailor-Made Technical Solution

The Xlogic team designed and built a custom-made structure, approximately 2.3 meters long and 1.8 meters high, capable of hosting four food-grade inkjet printers in sequence, one every 60 centimeters. The frame, anchored to the floor and engineered according to the real layout of the production line, ensures stability, safety, and easy access for maintenance, while maintaining full process continuity.

Each printer can manage different image sets, allowing the company to serve multiple customers within the same production window. This feature, a native advantage of digital technology, stems from experience in other industrial sectors, adapted to the specific requirements of food decoration.

Real-Time Operational Flexibility

Thanks to Xlogic’s digital technology, each printer can be programmed to print custom graphic variations in real time. This allows the company to work on multiple orders simultaneously, producing different wafer types in parallel. It represents the highest expression of industrial made-to-order production: flexible, fast, and repeatable.

As the project expanded, La Cialcon was able to gradually scale production capacity:

• 2016: installation of the first printer.

• 2017: addition of a second unit to increase productivity.

• 2020: installation of three more printers to further strengthen the line.

Today, the company operates four in-line post-oven printers and one off-line printer for backup or production peaks. In the event of downtime, the backup printer automatically comes into operation, keeping productivity at 100%.

Results and Market Position

The investment in Xlogic technology has delivered tangible results:

• Enhanced productivity: four decorated lines in parallel, plus one off-line unit for emergencies.

• Commercial flexibility: full customization by customer and order.

• Proven growth: from one to five operational units in four years.

• Market leadership: nearly all European wafer manufacturers now use Xlogic printers.

  
  

Within the European food decoration segment, La Cialcon holds a significant market share, with a strong presence in Northern Europe. This case demonstrates how food-grade digital printing can transform a decoration process into a true competitive advantage, combining creativity, productivity, and sustainability.