Label and packaging specialist Springfield Solutions, has invested in Europe’s first Screen Truepress Jet L350UV digital label press doubling the company’s label printing capacity.
The £570,000 investment will boost productivity and enable the company to develop new label applications.
The new single-pass machine, installed earlier this month, is already in production and complements the company’s existing trio of HP Indigo digital label presses.
‘The decision to become an ‘all-digital’ label company in 2011 is the reason why Springfield Solutions is successful,’ said operations director, Dennis Ebeltoft.
According to the company, on-going investment in new technology over the last couple of years led to a 26% growth in print turnover in 2013 alone.
Mr Ebeltoft added, ‘The market for labels is changing rapidly as retailers take advantage of the creative and production benefits of digital printing. While run lengths are decreasing, the number of label variants is increasing quite significantly. In just a year the number of jobs we handle has jumped from 800-1000 a month to 1500 a month at an average run length of circa 300 m each – although run lengths can go as high as 10,000 m. Our clients are constantly requesting faster turnaround times and without digital printing technology we couldn’t meet these tight deadlines.’
To drive the next phase of growth and ensure it can deliver high-quality, decorative labels fast and at competitive prices, Springfield started its search for a high-volume digital label press two years ago.
‘Our Screen and HP presses complement one another very well. Driven by an Esko Automation front end the 50 m/minute Truepress Jet with in-line finishing will allow us to access new business opportunities,’ said Mr Ebeltoft.
The company has streamlined design-to-print production to maximise efficiency and flexibility while minimising turnaround times. GMG colour management tools ensure that the Truepress Jet and Indigo presses are calibrated to deliver exactly the same results on metallic foil, transparent film, PP, PET and paper substrates, giving the company the flexibility to allocate jobs to any press, right up to the last minute.
