Labelling Solutions
The bigger picture for eff icient label printing
Gary Seward, Managing Director, Pulse Roll Label Products L
abels may feature some of the smallest pictures found in flexo, but when it comes to staying competitive, converters are too often missing the
bigger one.
In a market driven by shorter run lengths, fast turnarounds, and increasingly complex graphic designs, every penny matters. Rising material and energy costs, a shortage of skilled workers, and ongoing supply chain disruptions are forcing converters to streamline and find savings where they can.
Faced with these challenges, some may consider switching to cheaper inks and substrates. However, this pursuit of short-term savings can lead to more significant costs down the line in terms of inconsistent quality, ultimately driving away customers. Others may invest in new high-speed presses after being dazzled by their touted performance specifications but fail to consider how they will support these machines to reach their full potential. As a result, any gains they receive are minimal.
Instead of wasting time on unfocused or potentially detrimental solutions, converters seeking to remain competitive need to carefully consider how their investments will improve their quality and throughput. By taking a more holistic view of their operations, identifying the main bottlenecks, and considering how their equipment can work together as a system, today’s narrow web converters stand a better chance of thriving and truly optimising their efficiency. Flexo printing is a complex, interconnected process with many moving parts, but at the heart of everything sits ink. A converter’s choice of inks can transform packaging and labels from bland, generic pieces to exciting, appealing works of art. As well as affecting quality and repeatability, the type of ink used also has a major impact on throughput, with old-fashioned ink systems and multiple anilox rollers often causing unnecessary delays. Anilox rollers should keep things turning over smoothly, but too often, they are the source of costly delays. Manual selection processes are the enemy of efficiency, strangling throughput when presses are
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT IT CAN. Monolox Fixed Anilox Printing is a flexo process that puts an end to lengthy, cost- intensive anilox changeovers. Enabling printers to produce any spot colour with just one anilox volume, this system reduces the associated downtime of anilox selection, minimises waste, and cuts variability out of label printing.
Monolox is made possible by advancements in ink technology and a bespoke mixing database. Using the PureTone series of high-strength, single- pigment bases that can easily achieve a Delta E of less than two, combined with all the information required for instant colour matching, printers can produce any half or full tone from just one anilox. With no need to change anilox rollers between jobs, converters have the green light to improve their productivity.
Switching to Monolox can also pay dividends for another of today’s major issues; the environment. The strength of the inks used in the Monolox system mean consumption is reduced by at least 30%. With less ink wasted, printers benefit from lower expenditure and cause less harm to the environment through unnecessary raw material use and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
stopped and keeping them idle for long stretches at a time. What’s more, mistakes in anilox selection can lead to errors creeping in that damage the quality of the final job. Addressing this inefficiency represents one of the most promising tools available for maximising throughput; if ink technology could remove the need to change anilox rollers between jobs, presses could run and run.
What’s more, the ability to produce any spot colour with one anilox provides a more efficient process for printers still relying on Pantone mixing for their spot colour applications. Monolox enables the production of spot colours with unmatched speed and efficiency, as although it has slightly longer make-ready than other alternatives such as digital printing, the benefits of Monolox mean it is much faster once it has started. Today’s printers are walking a fine line between dealing with costs, and the opportunities offered by innovations that increase efficiency and support sustainability. Embracing these innovations may seem daunting, but as the challenges of cost and competition mount, doing so will be essential to enhancing throughput and achieving competitive high quality print performance.
32
July/August 2024
www.convertermag.com
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