Abbott Label invests in Rotoflex machines

The company, started in 2000 by John Abbott, the company’s president, focuses on digital, flexo, and stock labels, and supports customers across the US with four plants located in Texas, California, Georgia, and Illinois.

With 20 percent growth in the last year and about 50 new employees added to the workforce, the company acquired three Rotoflex finishing machines: a DLI-440 die-cutting platform and two VSI horizontal slitter and rewinder machines. The DLI was placed in the Atlanta facility along with one VSI dedicated to reinforcing the new volume created by the cutter, while the second VSI will support production in the Californian plant.

These machines join approximately 20 Mark Andy units throughout Abbott Label production facilities, starting with a Rotoflex finisher purchased over 25 years ago, still running in Chicago today.

‘We’re definitely, by far, a Mark Andy house,’ commented Abbott. ‘Our relationship with Mark Andy and Rotoflex was a major deciding factor. I’ve got a 16-inch eight-color 4150 coming in, I just added two print stations. I’m looking at adding two print stations to the 2200s in my other three locations. We are adding an Esko platemaking system through Mark Andy Print Products, too. To know that I could call Bob, Kevin or Steve Schulte and get responses right away is important. When these guys walk in the door, it’s not a handshake – it’s hugs, and that’s how special this relationship is. And it’s so special in this industry to have such great relationships and friendships.

‘The finisher came in and outperformed anything we’ve been running. I didn’t feel like we had a choice but to buy another machine because of the efficiencies we were gaining off that – the speeds, the roll chain, everything that has to do with the finisher, quality-wise and service-wise, influenced us to purchase the next two VSIs. The results coming off the DLI just swung the door wide open for us to start purchasing more.’

The DLI-440 has been running non-stop at 750 ft/min (229 m/min) since its installation.

Daniel Campbell, production manager at Abbott Label, added: ‘Speed equals throughput, throughput equals money. You know, fast setups, fast tear downs and fast run speeds. That’s how I was trained. That’s how I train these guys. And we run these machines as fast as they go. And that’s probably the favorite my favorite part.’

‘We’re definitely up a quarter-million dollars a month since the cutter has hit the floor,’ said Abbott. ‘It’s hard to say how much can be attributed to the DLI itself because we’ve made personnel changes and moved people around a bit, but it certainly made a big difference.’