Jonathan Bourbonnière, president of Multi-Action Labels

A self-adhesive label laminator and converter based in Quebec City, in Canada, Multi-Action Labels has expanded its short run, just in time label printing and prototyping operation after installing a DSI UV inkjet label printing press from SPGPrints.   

Operational since 2012, the 330 mm wide, eight colour DSI press at Multi-Action Labels is a complete print converting line for single pass production which complements three existing ETI flexo printing lines.

Jonathan Bourbonnière, president of Multi-Action Labels, commented, ‘The quality achieved by the DSI press and SPGPrints’ inks has been amazing, and has enabled us to deliver high impact designs that have enhanced our customers’ brands and boosted their sales. A major tomato grower in Quebec has even declared the print achieved by the press as the quality standard for all its labels. Equally importantly, the press delivers identical quality to flexo, giving us the flexibility to switch all analogue jobs shorter than 10,000 feet to the digital.’

 

Quick delivery

With run lengths averaging of 850 feet on the DSI, the company is able to offer just in time solutions with usual lead times of just 48 hours, as well as occasional same day deliveries. This is helping customers in the food & beverage, homecare, pharmaceutical and industrial markets make major savings by reducing stockholding levels.

In addition to CMYK, the press has been customised with options including orange and violet (to cover over 90% of the colour gamut), opaque white and a digital primer. Intermediate LED pinning and a chill drum, standard on all DSI presses, ensure crisp quality on film and paper substrates at speeds of up to 35 m/min. Inline converting options specified by the Canadian printing house includes a flexo coating station and semi-rotary die-cutting technology supplied by AB Graphic. The press uses SPGPrints’ proprietary inks that offer BWS-7 lightfastness, strong scratch and chemical resistance and high levels of brilliance.

Furthermore, the press has given Multi-Action serialised printing capabilities that help customers improve supply chain efficiency and safety. In one example, the company supplied one million unique barcodes to a department of the Quebec government, allowing warehouse staff to find and trace products easily through the logistics chain.

 

Prototypes

Multi-Action is also offering a DSI-printed sample service, helping brand owner marketing teams to speed up the prototyping stage. Derek Gobeil, director of marketing, explained, ‘Whereas flexo prototyping was done with Photoshop and mock ups, we can now do the actual run on the press, in minutes, with the actual inks, adhesive and facestock. And if any last minute changes are needed, it is all numerical anyway – we just go back to press. In this way, our digital workflow greatly speeds up the client’s decision-making process at the R&D stage.’

Thanks to the DSI’s Esko Automation software which automates step and repeat functions, the company has a fast, simple digital workflow that fits seamlessly with the flexo operations. Pre-press times for the DSI average just 15 minutes, compared with 90 minutes for the flexo plates. The press is also able to print several jobs consecutively, effectively eliminating start up waste. The installation has also boosted the productivity of the company’s three ETI flexo lines, freeing up time for these to focus exclusively on long runs.

Mr Bourbonnière added, ‘The addition of the DSI to our business has more than simply improved our flexibility, we can provide services that add significant value to our customers’ operations as a result. Thanks are also due to SPGPrints’ technical support staff, whose professionalism and passion has enabled us to adopt the digital workflow smoothly.’