Director Paul Dunne with Label Tec’s first inkjet press

 

First inkjet press for Scottish firm ticks all the boxes for high quality, consistent colour and affordability.

Label Tec Scotland Ltd has invested in its first inkjet label press, an Epson SurePress L-4033A. Based in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, the company has been printing labels for the spirits, cosmetics, white goods and pharmaceutical markets for over 19 years. ‘My mission while visiting Labelexpo last year was to find a digital press that would enable us to offer high quality labels on a wide variety of substrates without having to make a huge capital investment,’ said director, Paul Dunne.

‘Having looked at the main stream offset digital presses and the UV inkjet systems available, it became apparent that either the capital investment was too high, or the limitation of printable substrates and lower print resolution was prohibitive. The only machine I could see that was different was the Epson SurePress,’ he commented.

 

Superb results

The SurePress L-4033A uses Epson’s dedicated water-based pigment ink set, SurePress AQ ink, which includes green and orange to give a wider colour gamut for precise colour matching and accurate reproduction of spot and speciality colours. It features a Micro Piezo multi-printhead array and variable-sized droplet technology, which produces different size ink droplets down to 3.0 picoliters. A two-stage drying system made up of a platen heater and hot air drying ensures optimum adhesion.

‘Although not the fastest machine, the print resolution is high, the resin coated pigments give a durable print, almost all materials can be profiled to the press, and the consumable costs are competitive,’ said Mr Dunne. ‘The colour management system within the press can attain over 90% of Pantone colours using four colour process, plus orange and green. Also, there are no additional consumable parts within the machine which are going to affect colour consistency on repeat jobs.’

The new press is already in full operation at Label Tec. ‘The results we are getting are superb. We can take print from the press and, using our foil and flexo capabilities, produce a highly embellished label,’ said Mr Dunne.

‘Designs with fine gradations which are a struggle to print flexo can be printed effortlessly on the Epson, no concessions on customers’ designs are necessary.  Furthermore, using the variable data option, we can also serialise and personalise the labels. As a result, we can now produce a product that will enable us to grow our business. All in all – the press is a perfect fit for Label Tec.’

He concluded, ‘Although a new supplier to Label Tec, I found Epson’s professionalism during the sales process and care during installation a real comfort.  The company was intuitive to our needs and provided the additional peace of mind of a three year service contract. I am looking forward to working with them on what will hopefully be a long term partnership.’