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DIGITAL DEVOTION
West Coast label manufacturer sets up for future growth with cutting-edge digital printing press technology
Based in scenic Seattle, Wash., Richmark Label has recently doubled its investment with BOBST (www.bobst.com) by adding another two UV inkjet presses to the first two that were installed in early 2021.
All four digital machines leverage BOBST’s Digital Inkjet Technology delivering unrivaled speed, quality, and productivity.
One of the country’s oldest pressure-sensitive label companies, Richmark Label was established over 70 years ago, and now resides in its third location in Seattle’s historic Capitol Hill neighborhood.
It manufactures a wide variety of prime labels for customers in all 50 U.S. states.
In October of 2020, Richmark invested in two BOBST digital label presses—an LB701-UV and an LB702-UV—to replace its original and aging presses.
The plan was to replace the existing outdated equipment with more flexible presses that could deal with its short runs, as well as handle much longer runs that were being run flexographically.
Richmark Label president Bill Donner says he looked at a number of options before choos-
The BOBST Mouvent model LB702-UV digital label printing press can print high-resolution product labels on a wide range of substrates at running speeds of up to 330 feet per minute.
ing the BOBST presses.
From what he saw, the BOBST the presses had the best combination of quality, speed, and price of anything else he had seen—without the drawbacks he definitely didn’t want.
“Our average job order was about $1,000, so we needed an efficient, cost-effective press for our current short runs and one that would also be right for the longer runs we wanted to transfer from our flexographic presses,” Doner relates.
“We chose the LB701-UV and LB702-UV presses and were so impressed that we bought two more a year later.
“The print quality is every bit as good as we expected,” he says, “and the ease with which our people were able to learn to operate them has been even better than we expected.
“The set-up time, which is critical for shortrun orders, is excellent, and the press speed for many orders is unbelievable,” Doner says. With the proprietary digital inkjet technology powering the LB701-UV and LB702-UV to deliver a high native resolution of 1,200x1,200dpi, the presses afford Richmark fast and easy industrial label production, allowing it to print on a wide range of substrates—including paper, self-adhesive and flexible materials—while proving to be more efficient than even the most cost-effective traditional processes.
The larger of the two presses—the LB702UV—cost-effectively addresses 90 per cent of all label jobs up to 26,000 linear feet in length, with the capacity to print over 2.1 million square feet per month at printing speeds of up to 330 feet per minute.
For its part, the LB701-UV, can produce 800,000 square feet of labels per month printing at 230 feet per minute.
In addition, both presses achieve fast and frequent changeovers with a short web path that reduces set-up times and waste, making them a very sustainable option for label companies.
Having been convinced that the technology would be the perfect fit for the business, Richmark Label also chose to partner with BOBST because of its strong vision, which focuses on innovation in digitalization, automation, connectivity and sustainability.
“The digital market is fast-evolving,” says Doner, “so we needed a partner with a clear path towards the future
“The BOBST team also has an incredible knowledge of digital print and a deep understanding of the labels market,” he adds. “These were key components in our final decision process.”
“As part of the BOBST oneLABEL portfolio, the BOBST UV inkjet printers offer lim-
A schematic representation of the different label printing press technologies available in BOBST’s expansive oneLABEL product portfolio.
itless, profitable digital label production and they have taken Richmark Label to the next level in their evolution,” commented Dean Haertel, Business Director oneLABEL, North America.
“With four of these ultra-productive and cost-efficient machines in house, they can guarantee the fastest delivery, highest quality, and most competitive prices to secure their place as a leading label supplier.”
www.bobst.com
WALK ON THE WIDE SIDE
Stepping into the future has never looked this promising
By Walt Mesik
As technology advances, machine manufacturers are obligated to integrate the latest and greatest offerings into their products to remain competitive in the world of inline web printing.
As a general direction as to what technology our customers desired, Nilpeter A/S (www.nilpeter.com) listened carefully. And responded emphatically.
We learned that our customers’ largest challenges were increased SKUs (stock-keeping units) and reduced run lengths, as well as challenges to shift from pressure sensitive and paper substrates to unsupported films.
Already aware of the fact that the fastest growing market segment was flexible packaging, Nilpeter went to work creating the ultimate inline flexible packaging solution while addressing the customer needs.
The Nilpeter FA-26 is the result of merging new
technology with a user-friendly design, creating an effective machine center that yields minimal downtime and scrap, while offering maximum performance and clear sustainable solution.
The FA-26 offers something for everyone making value-added labels and flexible packaging: all inline, sleeve-based anilox and plate roll; robust unit construction; compact footprint; and landscape design to guarantee optimum register and consistent high print quality at all speeds.
Designed to print with water-based and solvent inks, with UV, LED, and E-beam processes, the FA-26 is a winning combination for short and long run flexible package printing in addition to labels.
A successful build relies on a solid foundation. The rigid one-piece steel frame guarantees our customers investment is long-term, while the landscape style printhead offers superb printing quality and fast changeovers.
Temperature controlled ink chambers maintain ink temperatures throughout long runs at high speed – resulting in constant print density. Moreover, the FA-26 features proven drying solutions for water-based, solvent, UV, LED and E-beam inks, coatings and adhesives.
The ergonomics of the FA-26 offer a safe environment with every feature of the press designed to be accessed with “waist-high” movements, and inline lamination utilizes floor level loading of heavy laminate rolls.
Double-sided web printing (front/back) is exclusively accomplished with reversing printing stations eliminating the need for turn-bars.
Multiple die-cutting solutions are also available, while continuous operation-friendly design allows automatic unwind and rewind solutions, as well as the standard Nilpeter roll-to-roll features.
Since the introduction, the FA-26 has exceeded many customer expectations.
With fast run speeds, industry-leading QuickChange features and job save/recall technology, the press uptime is maximized, and scrap amounts are minimized.
Nilpeter customers have discovered significant benefits of the ITR (In-The-Round) sleeve technology that allows them to run at speeds of 820 feet per minute (250 m/min), eliminating plate lift on smaller repeat sizes.
The ITR sleeves also reduce scrap significantly when changing between jobs waste is regularly
limited to 0ne to 1.5 web lengths of the press regardless of the substrate webbed throughout the machine.
One of the tools Nilpeter has been using to help overcome the global labor shortage is using 100-percent inspection systems: every FA-26 to date has been delivered with such a quality control system.
Nilpeter understands your finished product needs will change to grow into new markets. As long as you have the floorspace, the FA-26 can easily grow into whatever configuration is required to meet your needs. The modular construction allows for expanding the equipment’s abilities as new opportunities surface.
Nilpeter’s inline print finishing supports a wide range of substrates such as PP, PE, PET, and aluminum foil with value-added:
• Die-cutting unit for quick job changes;
• Gravure unit for metallic inks, covering surfaces and coatings;
• The Nilscreen system for special effects, braille, and opaque white finishes.
For the FA-26, Nilpeter has taken into consideration that the operator can work the printing
press without unnecessary handles. All functions on the press can be controlled via a touch panel on each printing unit. Nilpeter calls this intuitive concept “Clean-Hand” operation. Jobs can be saved logically and repeat jobs can be called up quickly. The entire operating concept is connected to Nilpeter’s Power Link System. It meets the industry standard 4.0 and can be integrated into all common MIS-systems.
Simply stated, the Nilpeter FA-26 has only begun to impress with its amazing performance results. Nilpeter delivered a press built with advanced automation, state-of-the-art quick-change features, industry leading ergonomics & user-friendly operator controls.
Stepping into the future has never looked this promising.
Leading digitalization
FROM 1 TO 1 MILLION
Whether you’re printing millions of labels, or just one, BOBST provides All-in-One, All-in-Line solutions that take the best of digital and flexo technologies to optimize your entire production site. Interested? Find your local BOBST representative at www.bobst.com/contact
KODAK MOMENTS
Innovation, collaboration and technological prowess continue to drive label printer’s market growth and prominence
Impression Label first appeared on the label manufacturing scene in Denver, Col, following a merger of two long-established local label manufacturers, Blair Labeling and Buckley Graphics. That milestone union, according to chief financial officer Marco De La Vega, “Created a single company with over 350 years of combined experience, committed to providing Colorado manufacturers with truly innovative solutions in product design, printing and packaging.” In their latest major development, Impression Label has recently upgraded its complete prepress set-up with KODAK FLEXCEL NX Central—a new the new automated plate layout software system from Rochester, N.Y.-based Miraclon. (www.miraclon.com)
The investment comes after extensive beta-testing of the technology, during which Impression achieved significant time, material and cost savings, including eliminating up to an hour
overhead view of the Impression Label’s well-equipped and busy label manufacturing and printing facility in Denver, Co.
per day on the time spent manually preparing plate layouts, and significantly boosting plate utilization.
Marco and his brother Christian, Impression’s chief operating officer, vividly remember their entry into the pressure-sensitive label business.
“After all these years, it seems like yesterday when my mother called us and said she’d bought a label printing business,” Marco recalls with a smile.
“As her background was in biochemistry, and she and our stepfather were newly retired, this was a slight surprise.”
The year was 2008, at the height of global financial crisis, and the brothers’ mother, Lourdes Solis, was seeking a relatively safe investment in manufacturing.
Recalls Marco: “Along with my stepfather, Spencer Brown, they looked at around 180 businesses before settling on Blair Labeling, taking the view that labeling was growing and appeared to be pretty recession-proof.”
The acquisition made the company one of the largest 100-percent minority- and women-owned businesses in the U.S. and signalled the start of a period of strong investment and growth under the leadership of Lourdes, Spencer, Marco and Christian.
Today, Impression Label offers design-to-delivery production of a wide range of high-quality pressure-sensitive prime, promotional and industrial labels, including decals, tamper-evident constructions, thermals, patterns, tags, hangers and card products.
The company’s principal markets are chemicals, agriculture, food ingredients and nutraceuticals.
One thing that makes Impression Label different from similar businesses is the strong
cooperative, collaborative culture that’s apparent among the 33 employees.
“We have a very flat structure,” explains Marco. “It isn’t based on a rigid hierarchy, but on a ‘How can we get this done?’ approach to every job.
“Whatever needs doing, we show up and get it done,” he states.
“There are three things we aim to deliver — competitive pricing, high quality products and great customer service—and we like to think we’ve got them all covered.”
According to the brothers, Impression Label was an early adopter of the KODAK FLEXCEL NX System, installing the technology in 2008.
“We checked out other HD flexo plates on the market,” says Christian, “but FLEXCEL NX Technology was clearly superior from both a productivity and quality perspective.
“Print consistency and quality were there from the start and have been enhanced over time with DIGICAP NX Patterning and NX Advantage tools.
“The FLEXCEL NX Plates are far more durable than competitors’, which matters to us a lot—especially when we’re regularly running huge-footage jobs.
“The technology is also very user-friendly and forgiving, something Marco and I can vouch for as relative newcomers to press operation.”
Impression Label is a 100-percent FLEXCEL NX Plates business, Marco reiterates.
“The technology is crucial to our high-quality proposition, which is important given the growing trend for customers to want high impact labels featuring foil and metallic finishes.
“We run reverses, flood coats and a lot of white, with up to seven colors registered over it,” he relates. “The whites we lay down look like
The KODAK FLEXCEL NX photopolymer plates provide a highly durable and high-quality printing solution for the Impression Label facility in Denver.
they’ve been rotary-screened—all without any issues.”
As well as the time and cost savings, the software’s automated layout optimization contributes to users’ sustainability goals by creating less waste and using less energy and solvent.
According to Miraclon, it seamlessly enables the integration of multiple advanced plate surface patterning features— designed to enhance print performance— into one automated plate layout, while increasing consistency and reducing errors by minimizing customer touch-points.
Marco De La Vega describes the benefits Impression Label is getting from the new software: “Previously, our art department spent a lot of time getting the best fit of jobs on the plate.
“Now, with FLEXCEL NX Central Software, it’s all automated: it takes out the guesswork and optimizes plate layouts
“It allows us to get the most out of our spend on plates and free up our prepress managers’ time to focus their expertise elsewhere,” he states.
Art department manager Kate Pooch happily share from her daily experience of the improvements that the new software platform has brought to Impression Label.
“The FLEXCEL NX Central Software saves us both time and materials and makes the whole operation more efficient,” she says. “We have two artists in the department, and they generally only used to know the specific jobs they were working on.
“So, you had to manually drag files over and try to figure out which would make
best use of the sheet.
“Now we just send the files through, and the software lays them out on the plate,” says Pooch. “It also tells me the percentage of the plate that’s used, so I know if I can keep a plate job open in case another job comes in.”
“I estimate we save at least one hour every day, and we utilize around 80 per cent of every plate, instead of the previous 60 per cent,” says Pooch, adding that FLEXCEL NX Central Software even operates during power blackouts.
“It used to be that when the power came back on, we had to figure out which plates we’d already made and reload everything,” she relates. “You could even end up making a plate twice.
“Now, when we boot the system back up, all the files are there,” she says. “It’s a huge time saver.”
Looking back over the 14 years since he and Christian unexpectedly became label printers, Marco gives a lot of credit for the company’s success to the support provided by the Miraclon team.
“Every vendor tells you that they’re there for you,” he says, “but Miraclon really is.
“And as we’re also a supplier to them, we always aim to deliver the same high standard service,” he concludes. “If we ever have an issue, it only takes one call to get a response.
“With other large vendors, we often feel like we are just a number, but Miraclon always makes us feel like we’re their only customer.”
www.miraclon.com
A close-up of the KODAK FLEXCEL NX photopolymer plates running through their paces inside the high-speed printing press.
MOTHERLY EMBRACE
Unique labels display the precious essence of wine and spirits by leveraging advanced technologies, sustainable solutions and interactive features
The globally-operating All4Labels Global Packaging Group (www.all4labels.com) is continuing to press ahead with the multiphase launch of its new global business strategy to sustainably develop the wine-and-spirits sector—starting with a dedicated marketing campaign designed to shape consumers’ experience through unique, precious, and sustainable labels and packaging.
This initiative is currently taking form in an inspiration project of a global itinerant showcase, called ‘Motherland,’ which aims to display the unique essence of each product and its local heritage through eye-caching design.
In the last few month months, All4Labels has producing eight special label concepts on bottles of win and spirits from Argentina, France, Italy, South Africa, Mexico, China, and Germany. These countries represent the locations of the group’s blue-chip sites that are specialized in the wine and spirits segment—each will featuring a product that is typical of the local market.
Created together with its newly launched packaging design division, All4Graphics, each label seeks to embody the natural beauty and traditions of the region of origin, while implicitly demonstrating All4Labels’ technical and innovation capabilities.
The labeled bottles have been steadily unveiled at dedicated local events starting with a kick-off in Cape Town, South Africa, on February 9, 2022.
The showcase is an opportunity to address the importance of building an open environment with meaningful relationships
throughout the entire value chain, and All4Labels is working closely with a group of leading partner companies to share this ethos.
Motherland will also highlight the value of All4Labels Smart + Secure GmbH unit, which embed smart features such as Brand Security with QR fingerprint, Gamification and Traceability in order to support the customer experience through analytics.
“We are embarking on this campaign to highlight our presence as a main player in the wine & spirits market and to show our high premium solutions,” says All4Labels chief executive officer Adrian
Tippenhauer.
“Motherland will demonstrate in very real terms how All4Labels is pioneering innovation with bold creativity, high quality and sustainable packaging solutions for local and global wine & spirits brands.”
The goal for All4Labels is to enlarge its presence in this developing market.
As the company’s chief security officer Guido Iannone explains, “Wine and spirits has been a core focus for the All4Labels sales
strategy for a long time, and we have developed an extremely high level of technical expertise in label production with exceptional finishes and embellishments for premium brands.
“We are now using this expertise to drive new growth opportunities for us, for our partners, and our customers,” she says, adding All4Labels is committed to producing labels and packaging in the most efficient and responsible way.
Says chief technology officer Massimiliano Martino “Motherland was produced using innovative materials and technologies to reduce the carbon footprint by 80 per cent, compared to the conventional way of producing premium labels.
“We have developed and deployed an embellishment process that avoids waste while ensuring an exclusive tactile and visual effect,” Martino reveals.
“Conscious of the new digital era, where metaverse is evolving into a new reality, we will also explore how a virtual world can impact on people’s behaviors.
“With some real applications All4Labels can link bottles to an NFT marketplace, to show how advanced avatars could revolutionize virtual engagement,” adds All4Labels vice-president of marketing and communications Paola Iannone..
Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, All4Labels Global Packaging Group is one of the world’s leading label companies and a pioneer in digital printing solutions.
Serving local and multinational companies in different industries, it offers offering some of the sector’s most innovative solutions via a one-stop shop for pressure-sensitive, shrinksleeve, and security labels, as well as flexible packaging solutions.
All4Labels focuses on key growth areas for its customers and is a strong partner thanks to a global network of 30 production sites and more than 3,000 employees.
