- First inkjet press for Scottish firm ticks all the boxes for high quality, consistent colour and affordability
- Label Tec Scotland has invested in its first inkjet label press – the Epson SurePress L-4033A.
Based in Airdrie, Label Tec has been printing labels for the spirits, cosmetics, white goods and pharmaceutical markets for over 19 years. "My mission while visiting Labelexpo last year was to find a digital press that would enable us to offer high quality labels on a wide variety of substrates without having to make a huge capital investment," says Paul Dunne, Label Tec Director.
"Having looked at the main stream offset digital presses and the UV ink jet systems available it became apparent that either the capital investment was too high, or the limitation of printable substrates and lower print resolution was prohibitive. The only machine I could see that was different was the Epson SurePress."
The SurePress L-4033A uses Epson's SurePress AQ ink which includes green and orange to give a wide colour gamut for precise colour matching and accurate reproduction of spot/speciality colours.
"Although not the fastest machine, the print resolution is high, the resin coated pigments give a durable print, almost all materials can be profiled to the press, and the consumable costs are competitive," says Paul. "The colour management system within the press can attain over 90% of Pantone colours using 4-colour process, orange and green. Plus, there are no additional consumable parts within the machine which are going to affect colour consistency on repeat jobs."
The new Epson SurePress is already in full operation at Label Tec. "The results we are getting are superb, we can take print from the Epson SurePress and, using our foil and flexo capabilities, produce a highly embellished label," says Paul.
Designs with fine gradations which are a struggle to print flexo can be printed effortlessly on the Epson, no concessions on customers' designs are necessary. Furthermore, using the variable data option, we can also serialise and personalise the labels. As a result, we can now produce a product that will enable us to grow our business. All in all – the press is a perfect fit for Label Tec."
Paul concludes: "Although a new supplier to Label Tec, I found Epson's professionalism during the sales process and care during installation a real comfort. Epson was intuitive to our needs and provided the additional peace of mind of a three year service contract. I am looking forward to working with them on what will hopefully be a long term partnership."