Commercial printers should consider a digital label press says Ian Pollock, director of Presstek Emea.
An open house which featured the Presstek 52 LED alongside a Mark Andy DigitalOne had drawn visitors to the Presstek showroom in west London. It was the first appearance since Mark Andy completed the purchase of Presstek. Some of the changes have been logistical: the parts store has moved back from the Netherlands to London for example. Other back office functions will follow.
This is logical, says Pollock, since the waterless plates operations, requiring a larger warehouse, has been hived off into an independent company. “It is cheaper to ship into Europe from here than from the Netherlands,” says Pollock.
More interesting, however, will be the opportunities that combining the digital label press and DI litho press can open. There will be an opportunity to expand consumables for Mark Andy’s flexo presses, but also to combine machines. “The DigitalOne is a very similar to the DI,” says Pollock. “It takes in files, Rips and prints labels. It has on board colour management for simple operation.”
At the open house the label press was printing a label for a fictitious soap brand and the litho press was printing boxes for the same product. “We want to be talking to commercial printers about labels and to label printers about a requirement for flat sheet printing,” Pollock says.
The DigitalOne has been pitched at the smaller converter wanting a step into digital printing, or at a converter wanting a way to tackle shorter runs. It has sold more than 70 around the world in little more than two years with around 20 installations in Europe.
But there is another opportunity, Pollock believes. Adding a sheeter to the roll to roll press would enable a printer to deliver single side rinsed A4 sheets or smaller faster and more cost effectively than other ways of printing. “Printers could then combine some commercial work, which can print and go straight out the door, with a step into label production.”
The DigitalOne is a dry toner label press that can be configured with flexo, die cutting, foiling, varnishing and other stations for embellishment.
“I believe there is an opportunity for printers doing something like that,” he says.
They will gain more opportunities for this from a more recent Mark Andy acquisition. The company has bought Brandtjen & Kluge, a US producer of foil stamping, carton gluing and die cutting technology. It is another step towards Mark Andy becoming a total solutions provider in the pressroom.
Gareth Ward
MarkAndy brought the DigitalOne to Labelexpo, shortly before buying the Presstek business. That combination was brought to life at a London open house where machines from both were running side by side, one printing labels, the other cartons.
