Although already very well established with a raft of flexo presses, digital inkjet and finishing lines, the management team at Vista realised that they needed to add an alternative digital print method and also some form of back-up for their existing inkjet press. In particular, they needed to add more variable data print capability and a reliable method of printing large solid areas. A digital toner press seemed to be the solution – but which one?
How Focus equipment helped:
‘’We took some time to assess which presses would meet our needs and decided to conduct some print trials with Focus Label Machinery, on the Konica Minolta AccurioLabel 230 press. We had previously installed flexo equipment from Focus, so we were interested to learn that they had recently become an Accredited Industrial Print Partner of Konica Minolta, in the UK. We trialled a number of different materials, all of which printed well, with excellent print quality, especially on fine text and reversals.’’
‘’Focus helped us to run a few live production jobs on their demo press, which enabled us to properly assess its suitability for our requirements. We were able to see actual set-up times / material usage and to compare the toner print process directly with our existing printing methods. It soon became clear that the AccurioLabel 230 ticked a lot of boxes for us – easily handling complex variable data jobs and producing smooth, blemish-free solid print areas. We knew that this press would be a perfect complement for our inkjet & flexo equipment.’’
‘’We were also very surprised how easy the Konica press was to operate. The job lay-up software was intuitive to use, making it very simple to handle our artwork files and set up a series of consecutive jobs on the press. Colour management was also straight forward, using the spectrophotometer which is included within the package. We were able to adjust colours quickly & accurately to closely match our pre-printed labels. ‘’
‘’The partnership between Focus and Konica Minolta was also a big factor in our decision to purchase the AccurioLabel. They worked closely together on the project from our initial enquiry, through to delivery, installation & training. Focus have always provided us with reliable service on our flexo presses, so were confident that we could rely on them to look after us with the new toner press. Konica Minolta equipment uses well proven technology and has a large number of UK service engineers, so again - we were confident that we would be in good hands.’’
What have been the benefits?
Since installing the AccurioLabel 230, Vista Labels have been running the press alongside their existing inkjet press and the AccurioPro Flex imposition software has been integrated into their pre-press studio, where customers’ files are prepared for whichever digital press is the most suitable and then sent downstream for print production & finishing.
‘’We now have greater flexibility, so can more easily decide on the best print method for our customers’ applications, whether that is flexo, inkjet or toner.’’
‘’In addition, we have been able to migrate a number of variable data jobs to the AccurioLabel from our thermal transfer printers, creating big savings in time & costs. The new press has been worked hard, but has proven to be very reliable, thus providing good cover, in case of any production issues with our other equipment.’’
Going forward:
’So far, we have been very pleased with the new investment and we intend to channel as much ‘new’ work as possible through the Accuriolabel. Going forward, there is every chance that we will purchase additional equipment to further increase capacity.’’
