Birkenfeld, December 2020. eXtra4 Shop is clearly structured with a straightforward design. In addition to detailed dimensional drawings, numerous photos illustrate the application of the products. Thanks to responsiveness, the online shop is now device-independent. It can also be easily operated on the move, via mobile phone or tablet. The overview and user-friendliness have thus improved considerably.
The ordering procedure has been simplified: registration of the customer is no longer necessary. Every BtoB client can place an order as a guest and receives a proper order confirmation. Various payment methods are available in the checkout. After a smooth initial order, follow-up orders are also processed by delivery note on invoice.
Labels, software and hardware can be ordered online at eXtra4 Labelling Systems since 2012. After various changes over the last few years, www.eXtra4shop.de has once again experienced fundamental improvements in technology and design with this relaunch.
October 2020. Since the first release of eXtra4<gemID> in 2016, the industry software for the gemstone sector from eXtra4 has undergone numerous additions. Last in 2019 with the introduction of the multi-user version, Edition "Business".
A new brochure now summarises all the enhancements, including the most recent ones, which focus particularly on ease of use. Interested parties will find the advantages and most important core elements of the gemstone management software outlined on 4 pages.
The brochure was not only updated in terms of content. The information contained in the brochure has also been visually updated according to new design guidelines.
View the brochure now.
View further brochures from eXtra4.
Birkenfeld, 02.06.2020. The start of the nationwide corona lockdown on 23 March 2020 means the abrupt end of Mrs Zdenka Miksa's long professional life. For more than three decades she has worked for Ferdinand Eisele GmbH, Birkenfeld, well beyond retirement age. Just before her 74th birthday, the loyal employee has to quit her job definitively for her own protection because of the virus, which is particularly risky for elderly people. After the easing of the corona restrictions, she will now be duly bid farewell by the management and her colleagues.
Up to date in technology
As early as 1972, Czech-born Zdenka Miksa managed to start a career in her new home country in addition to her family. The qualified business administrator continues her training - also in the field of EDP - and takes up a position with Ferdinand Eisele on 3.6.1987. The company, at that time still a print shop with affiliated label production in Pforzheim, needs support in order adminitration. Getting started is a challenge that she faces with commitment - as well as the many technical developments that keep revolutionizing her workplace. Formerly started with a typewriter and carbon-copy pad, Mrs. Miksa experienced the triumph of computing live at her desk. E-mail, Internet, WhatsApp, Google and Skype are now also part of Zdenka Miksa's day to day private life. Her employer benefits from this open-mindedness towards innovations until the very last moment.
Over 30 years of loyalty
As a reliable, experienced staff member, Ms. Miksa supports the company with a lot of loyalty through more than 30 years of development from the traditional print shop to the label manufacturer to the specialist for identification technology with its own software company. With growing export business their language skills are also an advantage: After all, Zdenka Miksa is a sought-after contact person for customers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. When she retired nine years ago, only part-time work for older employees was acceptable to her, with two instead of the usual five days a week. ...
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Press release 02.06.2020
May 2020. eXtra4 boosts visual presence on the social web. Via the image platform Instagram we now post bilingual, in English and German, news and detailed information about our products and services.
Under #extra4labelling you stay up-to-date on identification technology for jewellery and watches, gems and glasses. Become a follower, like or share our posts via labels, software, hardware and accessories!
Follow us on Instagram!
Birkenfeld, 09.12.2019. The six long-standing employees of the Birkenfeld label specialist eXtra4 sum up to 145 years of service. Ferdinand Eisele GmbH would like to thank their company anniversaries at a festive dinner for the entire staff.
Managing director among the jubilarians
Mrs. Andrea Schwenker has been working with eXtra4 for 10 years. Started in sales, she is today assistant to the management and acts as the "right hand" of managing director Alex Schickel, who himself is one of the company's anniversary employees: After completing his studies, he began work in 1989 with his father Reinhard Nonnenmacher, the owner of the former Eisele printing company, and later took over the management of today's Ferdinand Eisele GmbH from him.
Development live - Working in production
Leyla Özoglu spent the longest time with Ferdinand Eisele as a company employee. She has witnessed the development of the company for 40 years while working in different areas of production: from a classic printing company with label production to a specialist for labelling systems with a subsidiary for software and IT services.
Thomas Mattner also accompanied the technical change in the company. The trained toolmaker took up a position as machine operator 25 years ago and is now responsible for the "letter press" production line in a managerial capacity.
The screen printing professional Wolfgang Wochele steered his skills in 1999 towards label production. Thanks to his profound experience, for 20 years he has been successfully controlling the machine with the highest punching performance in the production hall - and of course with a screen-printing unit.
Company's voice for 20 years
Versatile computer know-how paired with didactic skills make Hartmut Kasper the voice of eXtra4. Known and loved by customers all over the world, the former programmer and data processing merchant has been in charge of the support hotline for eXtra4 software since 20 years. It is not least thanks to his consulting competence and his inimitable sensitivity in dealing with people that Ferdinand Eisele has deployed the proprietary eXtra4 software thousands of times for manufacturers and dealers in the jewellery and watch industry around the globe.
Growing by change
Ferdinand Eisele GmbH has proven its ability to change by becoming a specialist for identification technology with the brand eXtra4 and the subsidiary eXtra4 Software und Service GmbH. The six company anniversaries have followed this path. They supported what is today more than ever the key to a successful future: the willingness to constantly reorient oneself.
Birkenfeld, November 2019: A good year after the birth of her second child, Mrs. Herrera-Stanitzki returns to the sales department. During her baby break she has been represented since September 2018 by Mrs. Montserrat Casals Freixas, her predecessor at this position.
Step-by-step re-entry
Not on the fly, but little by little, the tasks with the focus on export will pass back into the hands of the Argentinian Herrera-Stanitzki. Mrs. Casals Freixas, born in Barcelona and officially retired, has been active for eXtra4 over 20 years and agreed to help bridge the baby break. She will continue to be associated with the company and will be available on an hourly basis as a contact person for customers from Germany and abroad.
With a lead at the start
New to eXtra4 but not new to sales is Mrs. Maike Mehwald. She is supporting the department since September 1st as an apprentice. Mrs. Mehwald can rely on 3 years of experience in the field of retail trade. She has already completed an apprenticeship as a trade specialist IHK via the high-school graduate programme of a well-known textile chain store operator. By the training as industrial manager with additional qualification as a foreign trade assistant, she will shift her focus of activity to the industrial sector and expand her spectrum of competence accordingly.
The management and staff of Ferdinand Eisele GmbH wish all the best to the beginners and are looking forward to a successful start or re-entry.
Birkenfeld, July 2019. Ferdinand Eisele GmbH is now relying on the precision of a digitally controlled machine for the converting of eXtra4 labels. Individually built, it features the latest sensor technology and will set new standards for the quality of eXtra4 label rolls.
The label roll as a quality factor
With eXtra4, quality does not only mean fulfilling precision-relevant factors of the label itself, such as form, function, dimensional accuracy, adhesion, durability, printability and many more. The delivery of labels as required also includes the manageability of the label roll before printing and its performance in the label printer: Web trimming, winding, core and last but not least packaging - everything plays an important role if you want to offer customers perfect roll labels.
Sensor technology ensures precision
In the new machine, a movable, sensor-based cutting unit takes over the web trimming and is oriented to the label edge instead of the web edge. This ensures a much higher accuracy of the label position crosswise to the web than previously possible with analogue technology.
Digitally controlled elements guarantee controlled winding tension and thus pre-defined wound label rolls that neither telescope nor stick together. Regardless of the diameter of their core, the rolls behave with consistent precision and can therefore - one like the other - be processed in the label printer with consistent quality.
During converting, a splice table allows label webs to be joined together inline with maximum precision. A web interruption now has no consequences for the position of the labels lengthwise to the web and does not affect the label quality. This is because a label roll with an interrupted web does not provoke any misprints in the label printer, but can be processed loss-free.
Long shelf life due to individual packaging
Transport protection and storage safety are provided by the elaborate individual packaging of eXtra4 label rolls. A cardboard cover protects the web edges from damage and makes the rolls stackable. Shrink foil, carefully sealed all around, keeps each single roll in shape and protects it from harmful environmental influences such as dust and moisture. Packaged in this way, eXtra4 labels can also withstand long transport distances around the globe and longer storage times on site.
Converting 2.0 as part of digital transformation
With this investment in digital technology - the second in 2019, after the acquisition of a digital punching machine - Ferdinand Eisele GmbH is clearly positioning itself as a quality-oriented company. The clear statement for more and reliably reproducible precision strengthens the future viability of the brand eXtra4 Labelling Systems and creates the basis for further successful development.
Birkenfeld, June 2019. The new addition to the machine hall of Ferdinand Eisele GmbH comes from the special-purpose machinery manufacture: Translative die-cutting technology lifts the production possibilities for eXtra4 labels to a new level.
New technology improves label range
The new machine is tailored to the needs of the company and individually built for label production by eXtra4 Labelling Systems. It fits seamlessly into existing production capacities, will replace existing technology and achieve noticeable improvements in the label range.
Digital control instead of analog
Instead of a central basic concept, the die-cutting machine has decentralized drives. They control each individual unit digitally with modern sensor technology. This allows the connection to already existing digital printing processes. Preprinted webs can now be processed into complex label shapes in new material combinations. For the design of colored labels, this brings significantly more functional and design possibilities.
Technological transformation as step into future
With this new acquisition, Ferdinand Eisele GmbH is completing the transition from analogue to digital control technology in its production. The step towards machine-made and automated tools means the parting from manual tool production. Thus, the investment is a clear commitment to more and reliably reproducible precision. In this way, the company actively forges ahead with its continuous improvement process and creates important preconditions for a successful future.
Birkenfeld, July 29th 2018. What's new at eXtra4? - Marcus Harley, technic-specialist at our representative Potters Ltd. from King's Lynn in Norfolk, gets a personal impression of the current developments in hardware and software.
Marcus Harley is the cornerstone and linchpin for Potters Ltd. customers in the UK and Ireland on label printing issues. As a software expert he programs himself and is very familiar with the control of printers and scanners. That is why a visit from him is always an exchange of theory and practice at eye level.
During the discussion with our technical team Marcus Harley learns about current development trends. He can try out technology on site and form his own opinion on which we attach great importance. Because like hardly anyone else, he is in a position to evaluate innovations from the perspective of UK customers an help to implement his own ideas.
Birkenfeld, March 20, 2018. What is the trend in logistics and identification technology? Answers will be available during the LogiMAT trade mecca at Messe Stuttgart. We at Ferdinand Eisele provided us with new tips and ideas there
Managing Director Alex Schickel and Kay Sonntag, IT administrator and hardware specialist at eXtra4, are looking for a personal meeting with suppliers. eXtra4 will be able to find out a lot of new things in exchange with those responsible on site at the trade fair. In return, however, we also take the opportunity to use our own practical experience to provide impetus.
The focus is on contact with proven partners for the eXtra4 range of label printers. At GoDEX, TSC and Toshiba, the two experts can explain the latest devices in the desktop and industrial segment. Extra inputs provide visits to competitors. Talks with exhibitors of transponder and RFID technology also set important accents. Especially suppliers from Germany can provide valuable information and so we will certainly remain loyal to LogiMAT in the coming year.
more pictures in the folder at
Being loyal to a company for many years is no longer self-evident today. It is all the more gratifying for Ferdinand Eisele in Birkenfeld to be able to honour six employees for their many years of service in 2017:
Ms Claudia Bäcker has been responsible for logistics and shipping in the outgoing goods department for 10 years. Ms Olga Bader has also been looking after sales clients with a focus on Eastern Europe for just as long. Also in sales, but already for 20 years, Ms Montserrat Casals Freixas has been active for export to all over the world, especially in Spanish-speaking countries. Mr Sinan Körbulak has been strengthening the production team on the machines for 25 years. Also for a quarter of a century Mr Matthias Jaschke has been active for Ferdinand Eisele. Today he holds a central position between production and sales. Ms Zdenka Miksa has been work-ing in the field of order processing with Ferdinand Eisele for 30 years.
Birkenfeld, 23.10. 2017. Printing labels is a problem for all users of Excel spreadsheets due to one of the latest security updates for the current Windows 10 Creators version (Version 1703). The latest version of the eXtra4 label printing software solves this problem.
The problem
Support requests for eXtra4 Labelling Systems have been increasing for a few days now. Users of the label printing software extra4/2 are suddenly facing the end when they want to print jewellery labels with data from Excel spreadsheets, as they have been accustomed to for years.
The cause
Microsoft's update, which is inevitably and unstoppably installed by the Windows user unnoticed via the Internet, no longer supports the driver technology of data access to Excel. This change to Windows is definitive and irreversible.
The solution
Desperate callers can calm the eXtra4 support hotline: Switching to the new eXtra4 version fixes the problem. The software, which has been completely revised over the last year, directly reads data from Excel spreadsheets. Driver technology, as now cancelled by Microsoft from one day to the next without warning, is not necessary.
Support from eXtra4
„We were as surprised by the Windows update and its consequences as our customers,"says Hartmut Kasper, support specialist at eXtra4 Labelling System, explaining the situation. „Fortunately, we are able to offer our customers a solution straight away.“ eXtra4/2 to eXtra4, Edition "Advanced Connect", can be upgraded without any problems. 15 support units ensure a smooth transition to the new version of the program, which is automatically included in the purchase of the new version.
Click here to go to the download area for the new software version eXtra4
Get in contact with our software support
Birkenfeld, 11.09.2017. After more than 15 years of service for Ferdinand Eisele GmbH with eXtra4 Labelling Systems, Eva Vogt retired in the spring of 2017. Although she still supports the company on a per-hour basis, she has been handing over her tasks in digital platemaking and graphics / set since mid-June to Ms Nadja Klett.
As a qualified goldsmith and graduate designer, Ms Vogt began her career with Ferdinand Eisele in June 2000. With many years of experience in set and design in a printing company, she tackled her new tasks: designing company catalogues and brochures, set and graphics for labels as well as the production of digital plates for different printing processes. In addition, the procurement and renewal of punching tools for the production of labels was one of her areas of responsibility
Ms Klett is now taking over this extensive field of activity by and by. She is a trained type setter / media designer. She brings abundant professional experience from print companies of different type into her new workplace. Design skills and creativity are basic ropes for her. In addition, Ms Klett also demonstrates technical understanding and precision in the use of punching tools. The design of tool moulds of all kinds and the monitoring of their production will also be in good hands with her in the future.
The staff of Ferdinand Eisele GmbH is looking forward to "new blood" in their team and wishes both colleagues a good transition to the new leg of their working life.
Birkenfeld, June 27, 2017. Matthias Jaschke starts on 22 June 1992 as an employee in the production of Ferdinand Eisele GmbH in Birkenfeld. With a lot of technical understanding and skill, but with no experience in this business, he proves himself first as a label printer. Later, his wide interests allow him to change the job inside the company several times. Today, after 25 years of being with the company, Mr Jaschke holds a central position at the interface of technology and sales.
Off the train, into printing
As a trained conductor Matthias Jaschke joins Ferdinand Eisele GmbH a quarter of a century ago. Thanks to a well-founded technical training as a mechanic at Deutsche Bundesbahn the change to the printing industry takes him directly to the machine. However, he stays only three years in the "letter press" production sector. His interest in computers and desktop publishing qualifies him for a change to the printing plate production. There he is responsible for drawing and procuring punching tools, setting and creating of layouts. In doing so, he also develops talent in dealing with customers and suppliers. ...
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Press release from 27.06.2017
Birkenfeld, 09.05.2017. A mobile roll handler has been facilitating the harmful handling of heavy raw material in label production for some time. The weighty rolls no longer have to be placed into the production machines by hand using massive physical force.
Even the smallest labels weigh 50 kilograms when they have to be transported in the raw material stage. Depending on the width and thickness of the roll, such a "cheese wheel" may strain muscles, ligaments and bones to tearing as soon as it is removed from the storage and lifted into the machine. For this purpose, it is not only necessary to simply lift and move the material. Since the raw material rolls are stored horizontally, but are to be processed vertically, it is also essential to rotate the bulky roll by 90 ° without telescoping.
Anyone who carries out this burdensome process in their working life countless times risk to get a hernia. With the new roll handler the danger for the eXtra4 staff is now banned: Completely without effort and with few hand movements, the device transports raw material rolls of any width and thickness with a maximum weight of 175 kgs from the horizontal to the vertical. And since the roll handler is mobile as well, the material can be transported directly to the production machine and used there with sensitiveness.
Birkenfeld, March 15, 2017. During three days Messe Stuttgart cumulates everything that is ground-breaking in logistics and identification technology. An opportunity for new ideas and know-how that must not be missed at Ferdinand Eisele, especially since it takes place right at their doorstep.
Managing Director Alex Schickel and Kay Sonntag, the company’s computer administrator and hardware specialist, take the opportunity to experience the latest developments live. The company is specifically looking for new solutions and providers in the areas of RFID, colour digital printing and data transfer..
However, the focus is also on personal exchange with established partners. At TSC, the latest devices in the desktop and industrial segment are explained in detail to the two experts by Thomas Rosenhammer. Competitor GoDEX is interested in the experiences and wishes of eXtra4 and also presents numerous new thermal transfer products. A visit to Andreas Krisch and Rainer Kinder from Toshiba rounds off the information exchange on the topic of thermal transfer printers.
Birkenfeld, 21. October 2016. From 14th to 17th October, eXtra4 Labelling Systems is celebrating its US debut during the JIS, "Jewelers International Showcase". The identification specialist from Birkenfeld near Pforzheim will be present at the trade fair in Miami at the booth of its representative IJS, "International Jewelers Supply". For the first time, the company is presenting its labels and labelling systems to the American public from the jewellery and watchmaking industry.
First contact in 2015
Rafael Suarez, Managing Director and owner of IJS from Miami, meets eXtra4 at the Freiburg fair in 2015 already. He is looking for a supplier for high quality labels. The range of services offered by the company is immediately appreciated. The American market has not yet been able to offer labelling software such as ...
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press release from 21.10.2016
Birkenfeld, September 1, 2016. Ms Montserrat Casals Freixas has signifi-cantly facilitated Ferdinand Eisele GmbH’s overseas success with her tal-ent for languages and her sales skills for about 20 years. Since early September the labelling and identification technology specialist from Birkenfeld near Pforzheim has to allocate export sales to other shoulders now: Ms Casals Freixas retires and Ms Carla Herrera-Stanitzki will be her successor.
Born in Barcelona and based in Pforzheim since 1974, Ms Casals Freixas of course masters German perfectly besides Catalan, the language of her home region of Catalonia, and Castellano, the classic Spanish. In addition, however, she also speaks four more languages fluently, namely English, French, Italian and Portuguese.
Equipped with these language skills, she joined the Ferdinand Eisele GmbH sales team as a part-time employee in 1997. Since the early 90s ...
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press release from 01.09.2016
Already in July 1996, Manager Alex Schickel established first business contacts with South Africa for Ferdinand Eisele GmbH during Jewellex in Johannesburg. Even then Thomas Ndlovu was one of his interlocutors who today takes care of production at the local representatives Crayve Ltd.
The company Crayve Ltd itself is led by Mr and Mrs Ray. During his current business trip in July 2016 Alex Schickel made them familiar with the innovations of eXtra4 Labelling Systems and shared his experiences.
For market information reasons, eXtra4 took advantage of the proximity to South Africa and paid a visit to customers on Réunion. As a French département, the island is part of the EU with the Euro as local currency. That is why it was particularly interesting to hear about the economic situation and the possibilities from local customers there personally.
Birkenfeld, July 2016. With the trademark "eXtra4” Ferdinand Eisele GmbH in Birkenfeld near Pforzheim specializing in identification technology, used to address their offerings to specific target groups up to now: The jewellery and watchmaking industry is being supplied with special labelling solutions worldwide by "eXtra4 Labelling Systems". For industry and trade in other sectors mainly in the northern Black Forest region, the company operates under the label "eXtra4 Identification Systems".
Now the company has spun off its expertise in software development together with the corresponding services in the newly founded GmbH "eXtra4 Software + Service".
"A trend which has been observable for years has led us to this step," said managing partner Alex Schickel: ”Our company's focus is shifting from specialized labels printing operation to a system house for identification technology." ...
.. more about the founding of
extra4 Software + Service GmbH
Pressemitteilung vom 25.07.2016
...more about the product range
of the brand eXtra4 Identification Systems
Birkenfeld, May 2016. Personal contact in export business is essential for Ferdinand Eisele GmbH. Therefore General Manager Alex Schickel has met important business partners in Riga and Turku to exchange experiences.
At KUMA CR, eXtra4 representative for the Baltic states, he presented the main innovations in the Riga office. The 4-member team around Igors Shiryak was very interested in jewellery labels, hardware and software. ...
TARRAMESTARIT, the Finnish "label champion" represents jewellery labels of eXtra4 Labelling Systems in Finland and Estonia. ...
...read more ... press release from 10.05.2016
Birkenfeld, March 2016. Ms. Miksa has been working for our company since 1987 and has no intention of giving it up so quickly. Although she could have retired 5 years ago into a peaceful retirement life, she prefers to stay on the ball professionally. And this, despite the rapid changes that her job in order preparation has undergone in the last 30 years, simply because of the triumph of EDP. - Hats off, we all wish we had that much fitness and commitment for ourselves, don't we?