Piotr Skalecki of Essentra Packaging (right) explains the needs of the beauty segment to Lukasz Chruslinski of Mark Andy
Essentra Packaging, based in Lublin (Poland), is part of the international Essentra Group. Recently, she bought her first hybrid printing press. After extensive market research, Essentra Packaging chose a Digital Series HD manufactured by Mark Andy. Piotr Skalecki, plant manager at Essentra Packaging, highlighted several positive aspects of his company’s cooperation with the American manufacturer: the advanced packaging technology of the press, the smooth implementation of the press and the training of the personal ; and comprehensive advice and supplier experience. He also mentioned that the benefits of the new machine were evident from the first day of operation. Essentra reduced sample printing time and material usage for versioned jobs by up to 80%. It also significantly reduced processing waste and, through streamlining job verification, made production more cost-effective. Learn more about the video interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjwQSHwbxvY
Essentra Packaging, located in Lublin, specializes in complex work for major international brands, mainly from the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, for which it supplies cardboard packaging printed using sheetfed offset presses, and labels. Essentra Packaging, which includes the Lublin site, offers three types of products: cardboard packaging; Labels; and leaflets. Each year, Essentra Packaging manufactures approximately 270 million paperboard packages and 1.5 billion self-adhesive labels.
The company prides itself on being very customer-oriented with a collaborative approach and supports its customers at every stage of a project, from design, with a focus on optimizing production and respecting the environment. , through manufacturing and finishing, to final delivery. Piotr Skalecki said a new hybrid press from Mark Andy perfectly matches all of these aspects.
Digital Series HD: ‘To better serve and support our customers’
Mr. Skalecki explained how the new Digital Series HD high-resolution hybrid press has improved Essentra’s label production capability: versions. We therefore needed a press that met their needs and expectations. Digital Series HD combines the best of digital and flexo technologies in a complementary and highly efficient production line, so we felt it was an ideal solution for our current needs. When choosing the new press, we focused on key aspects: the technical capabilities of the machine; and its stability and configuration options that would meet business requirements. We also looked at Mark Andy’s capabilities in terms of press installation and after-sales service, with a particular focus on engineering responsibility, where digital and flexo elements are supplied by the same manufacturer.
After detailed technical research and extensive testing on various presses, Essentra decided that the Mark Andy best met the criteria. “In our opinion, the company and its equipment will be able to support us in the production of jobs for the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and health industries. All of these markets, especially cosmetics, are constantly increasing their demand for quality in the supply chain. Customers expect much shorter delivery times, new packaging and label designs as well as redesigns and versions of old ones,
The increasing number of different versions of the same label for a cream or shampoo forces customers in the beauty market to react quickly and implement new designs or adapt existing ones. They also need more complex and technically detailed labels. Another factor is the growing pressure to improve quality parameters – this mainly concerns repeatability across different work packages. All of this has an impact on choosing the most appropriate technology for a particular job. Considering all these market challenges, installing a high quality printing press has become a necessity for us. It was also a huge change for Essentra, but it opened up whole new opportunities for our business,” he added.
Hybrid technology: the advantages of implementation
Piotr Skalecki: “The HD digital series offers very good parameters for digital printing in terms of resolution and color gamut. The printhead configuration achieves the optimum balance between 1200 dpi resolution, press stability and component life. We also appreciate the spectacular print consistency, which sets Mark Andy apart from other manufacturers as they have developed both flexo and inkjet modules. This also applies to the software that drives the press. Understanding the architecture of the entire technology, the ability to exploit the full potential of the software and the implementation of improvements suggested by customers make Mark Andy the leader among global manufacturers of hybrid solutions in my opinion. notice.
The new Digital Series HD has bolstered the digital production capability of the entire Essentra Group, supporting its business units in the UK, US, Spain and Ireland. “First, we can offer our customers in the beauty market difficult and very advanced labels, as well as short-term work. These orders often require a combination of flexo and digital printing techniques. With the Mark Andy, we can significantly reduce delivery times on all jobs due to the faster approval process and moving some orders from flexo to digital,” he explained.
According to Piotr Skalecki, hybrid technology is the perfect answer to the cosmetics industry’s challenges in terms of customer approval of new label designs. “We are seeing something of a revolution in this area, partly because of the pandemic, but mostly because of a greater emphasis on production costs. In the pre-Covid era, our customers personally endorsed the new designs by visiting our factory, but when the pandemic started, an increasing number were made remotely Our customers expect different options with any product, and we need to get quick answers as to which one we’re looking for. they prefer.
Mark Andy says his hybrid press is ideal for this. Processing is very fast with significantly reduced prepress costs. With flexo, prepress is a significant cost, making it unprofitable for short-run jobs. With a hybrid, prepress costs are significantly reduced. Skalecki added, “We really appreciate how easily any modification on the press can be implemented. After installing it, we were immediately able to combine proven and well-known flexo with the most modern digital technology, which allowed us to enhance Essentra’s market opportunities and offer greater flexibility to our clients. This makes it much easier for us to meet their sophisticated expectations.
The Digital Series HD is the first Mark Andy purchased by Essentra Packaging. “The opportunities offered by a hybrid greatly increase the diversity, precision and speed of the production process. First, it streamlined our workflow and consumables management, and made us more flexible,” said Piotr Skalecki.
Benefits of Implementation and “Real Life” Example
Digital Series HD combines hybrid construction, inline conversion and high resolution digital printing with flexibility and high efficiency. “All of these factors allow us to accept work from current and new clients who were not profitable with flexo. The hybrid also offers a 50% reduction in waste on short and medium term jobs, as well as measurable savings at the design approval stage. We can use a strip of material to prepare multiple versions of a particular label, reducing usage by 75-80%. The HD Digital Series also requires only half the power of a typical flexo press and generates minimal wasted ink. This is very important to us and our customers and aligns with our sustainability goals.
Piotr Skalecki cites an example from Essentra’s daily production. “Previously, it took 4-5 working days to prepare five label designs for a customer. Currently, we only need one day for the same job, and also customer get more designs to choose and approve. The whole process has become much faster, it has reduced the use of materials and improved our opportunities, adding value to our business relationships with our customers.
“A Perfect Setup” by Mark Andy
Piotr Skalecki underlines another aspect concerning the Digital Series HD installation. “We were very impressed with the work done by Mark Andy during the on-site commissioning process. When we compared it to other manufacturers’ approach, it was much smoother. Mark Andy’s involvement and help every step of the way has strengthened our confidence in the company and its employees. We now call their implementation process “the perfect!” “The service and after-sales service provided by Mark Andy was one of the most important factors in choosing the new press, along with the obvious technological advantages of the equipment. We are very satisfied with the whole level of cooperation.
Speaking on behalf of Mark Andy, European Sales Manager Lukasz Chruslinski commented: “It is a great pleasure to hear such rave reviews from a customer, mentioning our technical and service support. Our business philosophy is that the sales contract is only the beginning of the whole process, in which we try to get as close as possible to our customers, helping them to open up the exciting new opportunities offered by the Mark Andy presses.
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