The Sweet People invests in Epson SurePress L-4033AW for personalized labels and packaging

Based in Leighton Buzzard in the UK, the company, formerly Liquid Lens, is an award-winning producer of branded confectionery for promotional campaigns, events and product launches. The company works on themed events, printing everything from the invitation to giveaway items, goody bags, pillow gifts and more. As Liquid Lens, the company specialized in domed labels and produced over 100,000 full-color domed labels each week. As of October 1, it changed its identity to The Sweet People as a ‘much better reflection of what we now specialise in’, which Mandy Hastie, director at The Sweet People, elaborated on: ‘We researched high-quality products that we would be able to supply to our trade customers for about 1 GBP (1.2 USD) each, and they happened to be confectionery-based, so we decided to expand the range considerably.’

The creation of new products lines and resulting move into packaging required more sophisticated print technology, evolving over time until the need for faster, more cost-effective production led the company to invest in an Epson SurePress L-4033AW digital label press. The press runs alongside an off-line die-cutting machine that die-cuts, varnishes, strips and slices the labels.

The Sweet People can produce up to 100,000 labels a week at peak times, 50 percent of which goes through the SurePress. Its 7-color SurePress L-4033AW with white ink uses SurePress AQ inks, which are low migration for PET, PP and PE, and meet food regulation standards, an important component for a company producing confectionery labels and packaging.

The SurePress has enabled the company to cut output time, previously quoting a lead time of two weeks to its customers that has now been reduced to under a week, and reduce production costs, with producing superior quality products while keeping costs low of particular importance to the business and its customers.

‘As we have complete control over production, we can create promotional items to suit the budget, from the largest blue chip company to the smallest client,’ commented Hastie. ‘There are no limits on orders and we handle large volume runs with the same care and attention as we do small campaigns.’

Quality was a further consideration for The Sweet People, with brands demanding consistency when it comes to color and quality, ‘which is something we take very seriously and is reflected in the amount of repeat business we secure,’ noted Hastie. ‘One product we have supplied to the same customer for over 10 years is on repeat order every three to four months.’