UCC enters premium label market with Haotian press

Lucknow-based Upadhyay Colour Copier has entered the short-run premium label market following the installation of a Haotian digital label press with in-line CMYK, white, UV coating and digital foiling, reporting 95 percent color gamut matching and elimination of multi-pass production after ten months of commercial operation.

The press allows UCC to complete printing and embellishment in a single pass, removing the need to rewind, re-register and reprocess rolls for UV coating and foiling. The company now serves minimum orders of 3,000 labels, a quantity previously uneconomical for flexographic production, with turnaround times of one to three days. Supported substrates include paper, PP white, PP silver, PET and flexible films up to 500 microns.

The press has enabled UCC to eliminate lamination for many applications, with UV printing delivering gloss and abrasion resistance directly from the press. Foiling has emerged as the most popular embellishment option, with strong demand from cosmetics, personal care, nutraceuticals, ayurvedic products and premium food brands.

'We invest where we see the future,' said Pawan Upadhyay, founder of Upadhyay Colour Copier. 'This Haotian press has built up our confidence to generate a completely new market, rather than competing unproductively in an existing one.'

UCC plans to extend the Haotian platform into short-run flexible packaging and pouch production for emerging brands. Technical support is provided by Packnology, based in New Delhi.