Technology in Tandem

From left: Daniel DeWeese, Carol Anger and Bob Anger of Ranger Label with their Epson SurePress L-4033AW.

Digital printing is becoming increasingly prevalent in the packaging world, but many industry experts don’t expect the technology to be a complete replacement for analog devices. Instead, many converters are supplementing their flexographic capabilities with digital, allowing both print methods to succeed where they are best suited.

For Ranger Label, a label converter based in Ridgeland, Mississippi, the decision to invest in an Epson SurePress L-4033AW came down to several important points. The inkjet digital label press, which joins Ranger Label’s existing Mark Andy and Nilpeter flexographic presses, was added to expand the company’s short-run label offerings, to reduce costs and production time, and to provide color-accurate and consistent labels.

Bob Anger, the company’s founder, and company President Carol Anger, point out that they saw a trend of shorter run jobs that were taking up too much time on the shop’s flexo presses. The goal was to get the short-run work off the flexo presses and onto the digital press.

“Then we can keep the big presses running the big jobs,” Bob Anger says, adding that the shop recently ran a foil pouch job for wet wipes on the Epson press with great results. The Epson machine can also be left running jobs unattended overnight, freeing up valuable press time.

The Angers confide they hope the move to digital will expand their customer base.

“It allows us to go talk to clients that we might not have gotten in the door before,” Bob Anger quips. “We can tell them we are not the average, run-of-the-mill label converter.”

Bob Anger says he made the right choice to provide digital pressure sensitive short-run product labels for the company’s manufacturing, processing and service customers. He also needed a machine that incorporated strict color management and repeatability capabilities.

“We said, ‘You know what, Epson is in the printer business, but they are also in the ink business,’” he says. “That was one of the major reasons we made the purchase.”

The SurePress L-4033AW is driven by Wasatch RIP and Print Management Software. The seven-color inkjet digital label press with white ink is designed for high-quality, short-run label work, even when using clear or metallic substrates.

Anger notes that the company did not need to make a huge investment for the Epson machine, and can use multiple substrates. Ranger Label did not want to be limited to running coated stocks.

“We did get our feet wet with several other smaller desktop digital devices, just to learn the process,” Anger notes. “But we quickly learned it wasn’t going to be able to handle what we wanted to do.”

Ranger Label had the Epson press up and running production jobs on the first day, Carol Anger says.

“Epson did an excellent job of planning the installation and came in for two weeks when it was installed and trained our employees,” she notes.

For label printers that are not eager to make the full digital press splash, there is another option. Many shops have opted to retrofit existing flexo presses with digital engines from vendors such as Colordyne and Prototype & Production Systems Inc. (PPSI). The result is a hybrid digital and conventional press that gives the company advanced flexibility and production options.

“With retrofits in general, the main benefit is that the converter is utilizing an asset they already have,” Brian Connolly, vice president of sales and marketing for Colordyne, explains. “They don’t need to make a full, major capital investment in a new press. If the press is accommodating enough and the retrofit is done right, they will not lose any of the capabilities of that press.”

Connolly contends that with the current level of inkjet printing technology, labels produced with digital inks now have the look and feel of flexo.

“That is extremely attractive to label printers because now they have the flexibility in their business to make day-to-day decisions about how they want to run certain jobs,” he says. “Let’s say they are capacity constrained on one machine and they have open capacity on another machine. One machine might have the digital engine, but it won’t matter because the output will look very similar or identical.”

Connolly feels the retrofit option works for any company using traditional flexographic printing presses for their business, be it a small shop with one or two presses, or a bigger packaging and converting company.

Kirk Schulz, president of Premier Southern Ticket, installed a DICE GT3000 series inkjet unit on an existing Mark Andy flexo press.

“It is attractive to be able to flip jobs from press to press,” he adds. “It also does not take up valuable floor space like a full digital press.”

One shop that has successfully juggled a mix of digital and flexo technologies for about a decade is Premier Southern Ticket (PST), based in Cincinnati.

In 2012, PST retrofitted a DICE GT3000 series digital inkjet printer from PPSI onto an existing six-color, 16˝ Mark Andy 4140 flexo press.

“I think there is a misconception where people think that digital and flexo won’t line up,” Kirk Schulz, president of PST, notes. “But you can get it to print in register fairly easily.”

Schulz feels that both standalone digital devices and standalone flexo presses have their limitations.

“But the two of them together are completely unlimited,” he says. “You can do anything.”

Schulz likes the versatility digital printing brings to his operation and the cost savings of not needing to produce plates. He also notes that it is much easier and cheaper to print proofs with a digital unit.

Schulz is impressed by the thick, rich color of the ink coming off his digital engine. And he adds that his customers have also been thrilled with the quality of work coming off the DICE GT3000.

“When we bought it, we thought it was going to be for runs of up to 100,000,” he concludes. “We have run up to 4 million pieces, and it has been very cost-effective. Sometimes it makes more sense to stay digital. We are pleasantly surprised with the long runs we can do.”