Hampshire Label invests in Durst Tau 330E

From its roots as a regional manufacturer in 1974, New Jersey Business Forms has weathered shifts in technology and heavy market consolidation, and is today one of the top three providers of business forms in the US. Through strategic acquisitions, the company has added complementary capabilities in sealed forms, and labels and packaging. New Jersey Business Forms added Hampshire Label to its offerings two years ago, which currently does robust trade in integrated label products for dot-com businesses, and the warehouse and distribution industry.

This investment is the printer’s first move into short-run digital work, and follows investment in conventional flexo press technology for longer runs.

‘Our first move in modernizing the label, flexo and packaging business was to install a 10-color Mark Andy P5 press in our Englewood, New Jersey facility,’ said co-owner Andrew Harnett. ‘We have a lot of old presses in New Hampshire, so we moved one down and liquidated two. The Mark Andy is a 17in-wide press, which is definitely configured for long runs. Our second step was to add a digital process to support short to medium runs. That's what the Durst is for us.’

The investment, confirmed at the recent Labelexpo Americas 2016 tradeshow, follows extensive research into new digital technologies.

‘There are new players and new technologies coming on board all the time,’ added Harnett. ‘We always make it a habit to look for the new and relevant products. We first signed on as a reseller of the VIP Color desktop printer powered by Memjet. It's perfect for end users, but I don't think it's a real production solution in terms of large-volume printing and the range of compatible materials.

‘I was impressed with the wide range of products Durst had. One of the things that caught my eye was its large-format packaging press, and we’ve had a lot of experience buying European products.  Our Roanoke, Virginia plant runs a number of Hunkelers, so we've experienced the technology and the quality of those machines.  We’re just not the kind of company that signs on what everybody else is doing.  We are looking for a different solution and we’ve found that with the Tau 330E.’

The Tau 330E is a digital UV inkjet label press printing 8in or 13in widths in four or five colors at speeds of up to 157ft/min and resolution of up to 1,260dpi.

‘With the Durst Tau 330E, the speed, color fidelity, and the 13in-wide web width really stood out for us,’ said Harnett. ‘We like being one of the first adopters of this machine in the US. We didn't want to get into any proprietary material requirements, and we wanted to avoid pre-coating of stocks if possible in order to do printing.  So the Tau 330E was a great solution for us.’

Harnett said the acquisition of the Tau 330E opens opportunities for robust growth as , ‘we are going after new markets, growing our presence in the label industry.

‘We have a strong background of work, but we're definitely looking for new growth, organic growth.  We’re excited to have an opportunity to build more direct sales. We recognize the value there because we've seen and been able to grow on trade-only business for years.  Durst has also introduced a new front end software solution, which we're looking forward to checking out as well.’

Hampshire Label’s Tau 330E was on display at Labelexpo Americas 2016 and is now being shipped to Hampshire Label  for onsite installation this week.