Mark Andy installs first LED press in Benelux at Dutch Graphic Group

Dutch Graphic Group, formerly Graphic & Mail, has installed the first Mark Andy Performance Series press in Benelux to be fitted with ProLED curing, with a 6-color, 330mm (13in) P5 allowing it to meet the flexible labeling requirements for fresh fruit and vegetables.

Dutch Graphic Group, formerly Graphic & Mail, has installed the first Mark Andy Performance Series press in the Benelux to be fitted with ProLED curing

Established in 2000 by Nino Venezia and his wife Anita, the company is based in Venlo, The Netherlands, close to the AGR wholesale auction market for fresh fruit and vegetables. This generates a huge demand for labels that Dutch Graphic Group supplies in run lengths from 2,000 to three million and more. With three customers buying more than two million EUR (2.1 million EUR) worth of labels each year, and one buying more than six million EUR (6.4 million USD), the company sees 80 percent of its business in of run lengths of more than one million labels. And traditionally serving customers within a 25km radius, the emphasis is now on international growth, with many leading supermarket chains as contract customers.

As a result, no two days on the production floor are the same, according to Nino Venezia, so he required a flexible print platform that would be easy to learn and operate. Dutch Graphic Group press operator Peter Geraedts needed just three days of tuition to have the P5 running at 160m/min, and the press is currently on double-day shift, with an evening shift available for busy periods.

The P5, featuring delam/relam capability and a single die-cutting station, was installed during the fourth quarter of 2016. It has replaced two presses and, according to Venezia, ‘has given us a 50 percent bigger format and four times the production speed.’

Currently producing mostly thermo labels on paper-based substrates, Dutch Graphic Group is noticing a move towards PP material, with one of its major customers switching as much as 20 percent of its volume in one year. Dealing mostly with food-grade packaging, Venezia is working closely with substrate and consumable suppliers to keep ahead of the changing legislation on substance migration in printed packaging. ‘This was one of the reasons we specified LED lamps in the UV curing system,’ he explained. ‘They have instant off/on, consume less power, have a longer lamp life and crucially generate no ozone. 

‘LED has to be the way forward, especially with sensitive products like food.’

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