Positive ID upgrades digital offering with EFI Jetrion 4900

Positive ID Labelling Systems invested in its first EFI digital press two years ago, an EFI Jetrion 4830, with its new press to allow it to deliver high quality, full color labels to customers in a fraction of the time of normal analog flexo print methods, according to company managing director John Mayers. The company's two-storey facility incorporates flexographic production plus sales, admin, design and pre-press. The new Jetrion line is housed in a purpose-built unit attached to the main building.

‘We remain dedicated to investment in the business and improving lead times and quality for our customers, and the Jetrion 4900 is a step towards that goal.

‘We have a customer base of 2,000. A lot of them are small food producers, of speciality honey, pickles and other foods. Others are small breweries that need beer bottle labels in small quantities. Flexo is expensive for them, as the set-up alone costs 300 GBP, so if they have four products they will have spent 1,200 GBP on set-up before anything is even printed. Now they can have very small quantities of full-color labels when they need them, with the option of complex shapes without having to buy metal dies.’

Positive ID Labelling Systems held an open day and ribbon cutting ceremony to demonstrate its newly upgraded production line to customers and prospects. Heather Wheeler, Member of Parliament (MP) for South Derbyshire, officially opened its new digital print production room, together with Wendy Earp, chair of the Melbourne Parish Council. After the ribbon cutting, Wheeler watched as the advanced new UV inkjet digital press printed a personalized label design based on the UK Parliament's crown and portcullis logo featuring a complex laser-cut pattern produced in-line.

‘It was great being asked to officially open and cut the ribbon on the new digital printing press and laser finishing equipment here in Melbourne,’ the MP said. ‘The machine is a great new tool that will be used to enhance the business further. It's always a pleasure to see small businesses in South Derbyshire grow, and invest in new equipment for the future.’

After installing its first EFI Jetrion press, Positive ID Labelling Systems did 250,000 GBP worth of digital business in its first year, up from 50,000 GBP of digital before that. And while the company still does flexo label work on a variety of equipment, digital provides the biggest growth and the most opportunity. ‘We started off with three people ten years ago and 18 months ago we increased it to 12,’ said Meyers. ‘Now we employ 24, partly thanks to the increase in digital business.’

The new press is a completely integrated label printing, laser cutting and finishing line, which Positive ID Labelling Systems normally runs at 21m/min, though it can be increased to 25m/min. The Jetrion line takes blank substrate up to 229mm (9in) wide, with a print width of 210mm (8.3in). Files are processed and sent to the printer via an EFI Fiery system that runs on a server in the print room.

Its press includes a dual-laser in-line cutting unit, which can cut complex shapes at full speed, as well as an in-line back scorer, a matrix stripper, a slitter module and a re-reeling turret that can handle multiple core sizes.