Digital first, 'digital flexo' with Nuova Gidue

Traco Manufacturing has evolved its printing business in exactly the opposite way to most labels and printed packaging providers in the US and around the world – investing first in digital print technology, and then flexography.

The business launched 30 years ago near Salt Lake City, Utah, producing its Super Sealer Shrink Wrapper, a machine with an ‘I-bar’ arm and a heat-gun for sealing shrink wrap material such as PVC bags and tubing. Eventually Traco customers needed a supply of film for the shrink sealers, so Traco moved to support its clients’ needs, importing various polyolefin and PVC materials from China and Taiwan.

By the mid-1980s tamper evident packaging grew in importance and product manufacturers began demanding printed branding on their clear neckband films. Therefore Traco started sourcing rotogravure printed materials from Asia, which made sense for high volume orders, and kept costs down when compared to sourcing such high volume print in the US.

Utah is a hub for essential oil, neutraceutical and nutritional supplement manufacturing. Multi-level Marketing (MLM) is often the business model used to launch and rapidly expand brands from a local favorite to national status.

By 2008, Traco felt the burden of short run orders, with local clients expanding the number of SKUs within their product lines and introducing new products more frequently. The solution for this predicament was the purchase of an HP Indigo ws4500 and supporting finishing equipment. It was most efficient to produce incoming work using a digital print solution and allowed for faster turnaround times.

Explains Gary Whitehead, print production specialist at Traco: ‘So we had solutions for both the large volume work and the short run orders, but then there was this mid-range area. For a while we outsourced the printing, but to provide the customer service and quality that we’re known for, we decided it was time to become the captain of our own ship.’

It was two and a half years ago when Traco management first entertained the idea of bringing flexographic printing in-house.