Mercian Labels has installed a Screen Truepress Jet L350UV SAI E UV inkjet label press, so becoming the first UK company to acquire a ‘E’ model from the press manufacturer’s SAI series.
Mercian Labels is an award-winning designer and manufacturer of self-adhesive labels, operating since 1969. The company serves around 1200 customers in the UK and abroad, in sectors ranging from food and beverage, to high-volume variable data, e-cigarettes, chemicals, and smart indicator labels.
SAI E is a six-colour UV inkjet digital label press that can reach speeds of 60m/min, with a 330mm printing width. This model also allows for a high degree of automation, which ties well with Mercian Labels’ business model, as the printer’s managing director, Dr Adrian Steele, explained, ‘Far-reaching automation was an absolute deal-breaker for us. Our speed and service is why our customers keep coming back.’
‘We’ve been using an automated JDF workflow integration between our digital print engines and our Cerm ERP system for the past five years. The major productivity benefits from extensive automation are clear, with auto-plan batching and organisation of print jobs leading to maximum production time with minimal waste production.
‘The system’s estimation of printing time is extremely accurate when compared to the actual print times and material usage reported from the integration.’
Mercian Labels also selected the SAI E for its colour gamut. ‘Although the six-colour SAI E has one colour less than the SAI S, we were very impressed by its wide colour gamut with the new ink set,,’ said Dr Steele. ‘My colleagues have also been very impressed with the uptime and the reliability of the SAI E. Screen brings a detailed and thoroughly Japanese approach to product design, which fits very well with our passion at Mercian Labels for world-class lean manufacturing.’
The Screen Truepress Jet L350UV SAI E will replace one of Mercian Labels’ two toner-based digital press lines, and run the bulk of the company’s digital printing jobs. It will also absorb some shorter run jobs from existing flexo lines.
Dr Steele continued, ‘So far, the SAI E has been an excellent platform choice, and UV inkjet is proving to be complementary to our existing dry toner and flexo capabilities. The installation is a seminal moment in our journey to become a world-class manufacturer in self-adhesive labels.’
