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Brand owners are more frequently requesting short run and fast delivery without wanting to sacrifice quality or cost. To accommodate that without giving away the margin, the Italian producer of labels for the food and wine market ETICHETTIFICIO D.A.P.O. went looking for a new label press.
We wanted speed and quality, but above all reduced costs
In 2007, the company bought its first digital toner based label printer to serve exactly the demand for short run and fast delivery. But over the years, demand as well as competition has increased, and what previously was a good solution for a modest part of the production was now an inadequate and too costly solution. As late as 2014, the company started looking for an alternative.
”We went looking for a state-of-the-art technology which could improve the print quality and speed, but above all reduce the cost,” says Roberto Porreca.
It was not an easy task, but together with its technology partner Erre.Gi.Elle, ETICHETTIFICIO D.A.P.O. spotted a prototype of the new Trojan2 at LabelExpo in USA in late 2014. Soon after, they visited Trojanlabel in Denmark, and much to their satisfaction, the Trojan2 was exactly what they were looking for.
”The alternatives available in the market were small, table top printers, totally inadequate for professional converters, or big and very expensive digital presses. The Trojan2 press was the golden mean, with performances equal to high-level printers in many aspects and at a very affordable price,” says Roberto Porreca.
Printing directly from the design application
Another thing which satisfies Roberto Porreca is the fact that the printer can be operated directly from a label design application, such as Adobe Illustrator. No need for intermediate software to modify files before printing, which makes file preparation very fast and smooth.
”And there are no ‘gap’ issues between the labels, which allows us to use standard finishing equipment,” adds Roberto Porreca.
Through its partner Erre.Gi.Elle., the firmware is frequently updated, which also allows new features to be implemented free of charge.
Expectations surpassed
According to Roberto Porreca, the Trojan2 is a very good purchase. It does what it is expected to do to perfection and completely covers the need for short run and fast delivery as well as solves urgent problems:
”Just recently, one of our big clients, a famous brand owner, requested a very urgent job. Their production line was on hold, as they had run out of labels. They called us, and from the time they hung up the phone, until they parked outside our door to pick up the labels, we had produced the 1,500 labels they needed. This is only possible with machinery like the Trojan2,” states Roberto Porreca.
The Trojan2 has fully met the expectations from Roberto Porreca and ETICHETTIFICIO D.A.P.O. The machine has reduced the costs significantly, which was the primary goal, and the use of ease and the reduced change-over time has even surprised them a little, giving them the opportunity to solve urgent matters like the one mentioned above.
To Roberto Porreca, digital label printing is the future, and his company will definitely make further investments. Together with its technology partner and Trojanlabel, they will investigate new opportunities as they come along.
The Danish digital label press manufacturer Trojanlabel is entering the DRUPA exhibition in Düsseldorf (May 31 - June 10.) with a completely new concept which, potentially, can change the business for converters and packagers and will expand Trojanlabel’s market focus beyond the label business.
Based on the success of their digital label press Trojan2, they have designed an overprinting system – Trojan3 – which can be implemented in a vast variety of converting, transportation and packaging equipment, making new business opportunities for this business segment.
The Trojan3 overprinting system is an affordable kit which basically can be mounted in any host system which runs at speeds of up to 18 meters per minute, enabling high quality 4-color printing on all materials with an absorbing surface like most kinds of uncoated papers and cardboards or materials which are pre-treated for aqueous inkjet printing. The flexibility of the overprinting system means that it can be used to print on flat objects such as unfolded boxes or labels, thick objects like blister envelopes and wooden planks or even folded boxes ready for shipment.
The Trojan3 overprinting system is based on the technology successfully used in the Trojan2 label press. That includes a very intuitive user interface, the mechanical design, the print engine, the automatic ink cleaning system and electronics all developed and manufactured by Trojanlabel. The printhead itself provides a 1.600x1.600 dpi resolution which is among the highest on the market.
”We see the Trojan3 primarily as a value adding product. Manufacturers of converting and packaging equipment can include high quality 4-color printing at a very affordable price, thus making new business opportunities for both themselves and their customers,” says CEO of Trojanlabel, Mikkel Wichmann.
”The vast amount of small corrugated boxes being used, for instance for postal orders, pizza boxes, shoe boxes etc., represents a huge marketing potential if you deploy high quality inkjet technology,” adds Trojanlabel’s director of business development, Kim-Regin Sustmann.
At DRUPA, the Trojan3 will be displayed mounted on equipment from several different suppliers of applicator systems. Three of them are different transportation solutions displaying how to enable printing on envelopes, wooden planks and boxes of different sizes.
The fourth solution is a web-fed label converting line with a Trojan3 implementation. This will demonstrate how easily a converting line can be turned into a high-end printing machine with a very consistent print quality.
Alongside the new Trojan3 overprinting systems, Trojanlabel will display three standalone Trojan2 label presses. One will be printing self-adhesive labels on paper and plastic, one will be printing pre-cut labels showing the outstanding automatic register control of the Trojan2, and a third will be printing flexible packaging.
Since the launch in the beginning of 2015, Trojanlabel has sold more than 150 Trojan2 to different segments mostly to label converters but also to endusers such as pharmacy, wine, textile, food and confectionery.
All Trojanlabel solutions apply aqueous inks leaving no risk of contamination in the manufacturing process for the consumer of the goods or in the recycling process. Visit us at DRUPA.
Trojanlabel is located in hall 3, stand B31.
