Century installs Mark Andy Digital Series iQ

From humble beginnings, CP&P has grown into one of the leading converters of quality labels for a range of markets including newspapers, nutraceutical, chemical, and the food and beverage sectors. From a staff of eight in 2001 the company has grown to employ 26 and now operates five Mark Andy flexo presses: three 10in 2200 models and a 13in Performance Series P5, in addition to the new Digital Series IQ. 

All the flexo presses are eight-color and use water-based technology with UV on the last station for lacquer. 

‘We prefer to work with water-based inks because of the labels we produce for the food industry – and our products are now supplied to 34 States in the US as well as exported to Canada and Australia,’ said Neil Waldrop, one of the company founders.

The Digital Series iQ combines the servo platform and technology from Mark Andy’s popular Evolution Series with the Domino N610i UV-inkjet engine and is targeted at the middle section of the label market where it offers a blend of speed, print quality, and cost-effectiveness.

The new Digital Series iQ is CP&P’s second Mark Andy digital press, the company having installed a Digital One toner-based line back in 2019. The Digital Series iQ can be configured with up to seven UV inkjet colors (CMYKOV +WW) and converting components integrated to meet each customer’s specific requirements. Print stations, semi rotary vertical die-cutting, cold foil, and in-line slitting are common options. 

The CP&P press has a 4-color digital capability with three flexo units and Mark Andy’s QCDC die-cutting unit. It offers production speeds of up to 230ft/min (70m/min) in high-speed mode and 164 ft/min (50m/min) in high-quality mode, while print resolution is 600 x 600 DPI across its 13in (330mm) web.

‘One of the company’s assets has always been an open-minded approach. We had no previous print industry experience to draw on so had no pre-conceived ideas. We just kept investing in the latest and best technology we could afford and the Digital One and Digital Series iQ are the latest examples of that,’ added Waldrop.

Speaking for Mark Andy, sales manager, John Baer explained the logic behind CP&P’s investment in the Digital Series iQ: ‘Basically, we focused their attention on the cost to print/job estimation data that we had on file and made available to them. In simple terms, we took their book of business from the previous year and compared all the jobs they ran on their flexo presses with the same jobs costed on a Digital Series iQ. Long story short, running most of the jobs on the Digital Series iQ proved to be more profitable than traditional flexo – even on a Mark Andy flexo press.’

‘We invested in the Mark Andy Digital Series iQ press to give us a more competitive space where digital printing is becoming a requirement. It allows us to combine our flexo knowledge with the new technology of inkjet to get vibrant colors with UV inks that provide a high level of consistency and durability,’ added Waldrop.

While the Digital One offered a single-pass inline process, the Digital Series iQ takes that a few stages further, and CP&P view the hybrid concept as the most cost-effective way forward in a market where a mix of flexo and digital print will continue to be in high demand. The new press offers a wider range of substrate capabilities and the possibility of grouping jobs together, whether short or long, to give more scheduling flexibility. 

‘We have made a significant investment in this press to position ourselves for growth and to meet customer expectations with the highest technology available in the industry. After four weeks of setup and tremendous support from Mark Andy’s technical team, our press operators were very comfortable with the new technology. In addition, our production and pre-press departments have made it a seamless effort to deliver consistent quality and results for our customers,’ concluded Waldrop.