Natalii refocuses production with Esko Equinox and Automation Engine

Established in 1985, the label specialist has developed a highly-regarded reputation as one of Poland's leading label manufacturers. The pioneering enterprise was the first in Eastern Europe to launch IML printing on polypropylene film for plastic package moulding. It was also the first Polish label converter to invest in HD Flexo from Esko.

Today, Natalii works with a number of large businesses, including food processing, chemical, cosmetic, automotive, pharmaceutical and paper processing plants.

Tomasz Fiebich, Natalii production coordinator, said: ‘We are committed to upgrading technology and continuous development of equipment. This ensures we are a reliable partner for any printing requirement and a strong market player despite stiff competition.

‘The market trend is for shorter runs, high quality print and tighter margins. We needed to innovate our label manufacturing process to enable us to achieve the same quality in our digital and flexo processes.’

This has resulted in Natalii investing in Equinox to deliver the quality required and Automation Engine to streamline the process, and Fiebich commented: ‘We wanted to be the first to deliver higher quality, a better look for customers and at the same time lower costs.  We invested in a new proofer to print in Equinox and for the first time the proof is consistent with the print. The process is more stable.

‘Standardization of the pre-press process translates into faster make-readies and now we can print most jobs in up to seven colors. Besides cost reductions, we now get more jobs printed with the extended gamut and have also achieved a quality match of digital print with flexo. We now run about 60 percent of new jobs on Equinox. Our Full HD Flexo customers were requesting offset quality on flexo, and that is what they get today.’

Educating clients was an initial challenge that was quickly overcome, as Fiebich explained: ‘The customers originally were a bit reluctant to use Equinox, but once they saw the print results they fell in love with it. They now can have highly vivid color in a faster and more cost-effective way.

‘And because you don’t have to clean the anilox rollers, set up is much faster,’ he added. ‘It used to be couple of hours to make ready, now it’s 15 minutes. It’s hard to imagine how we worked before.’

Philippe Adam, Esko vice president of global marketing, said: ‘With its investment in Equinox, Natalii has been able to refresh its entire production chain. This has resulted in time and cost savings that will contribute to a heathier business and their customers are delighted with the results they are seeing.’