Daymark Labels has become the latest in the sector to invest in digital production alongside conventional flexo printing.
The Hartlebury business has installed a Mark Andy Digital Pro 3 press and this has already had a big impact. “I can’t believe how we coped without it,” says general manager Kevin Palmer. “On one regular job it has shortened production time from three days to one shift.”
The Digital Pro 3 is a 23.4m/min press using a Konica Minolta toner engine to deliver 1200dpi printing. The press can include flexo units and inline finishing modules.
The installation of the first digital press was accompanied by the arrival of a Evolution E5, Mark Andy’s entry level flexo press. This has eight print units and is the first in the UK to be fitted with GEW’s LeoLED UV curing system. It uses servo motors to reduce set up times and according to Palmer, is “the perfect operator’s press”.
The company’s managing director is Jon Bird, whose father Jon started the business in 1974. He says: “We’d been looking at the digital technology on the market for some time, trying to work out the best solution for our customers’ specific requirements, and then Covid hit, and plans were shelved until such time as we could see how things settled.”
That Mark Andy could deliver both technologies tipped the decision in its favour, making its life easier just as the label printer aims to make life easier for its customers. And it aims now to expand in food and beverage as well as in pharmaceuticals, with a message about environmental impact. “We aim to make life as easy for our customers as possible, and do it with an environmental conscience,” says Bird.
“It’s a matter of educating the market about sustainability and what is actually achievable. We believe our partnership with Mark Andy will help us to achieve that and grow our business organically.”
