ASL Print FX, which is headquartered in Vaughan, Ontario in Canada, has installed an MPS EF Symjet hybrid flexo-inkjet press in its Californian plant in the Napa Valley wine region.
The Symjet combines an EF flexo press with a 7-colour Domino N610i digital inkjet unit. It has a 330mm printing width and takes substrates from 20 to 200µm. The digital printing is via Kyocera printheads with 600 x 600dpi resolution. It can run at 75mpm It includes the ability to store job settings and the flexo units can also be configured with MPS’ Automatic Print Control option, which provides further control over the print sleeve settings. It has a full length Ultraflex rail system so that the converting units, such as foiling, web turner bar and screen printing, can be used at any location and quickly moved around. Other converting options include in-register laminator for multi-layer labels.
ASL Print FX will use the press for fast turnaround printing of wine labels. The main reason for choosing the Symjet is the ability to print its wine labels complete with embellishments in a single pass without the need for any further processes, which would require more equipment and more operators. This is an important consideration as the North American wine label market is highly competitive so that the labels have to be cost-effective as well as distinctive.
Travis Pollard, vice president and general manager at ASL’s Napa plant, says that “the initial results are much better than expected and the MPS support has been phenomenal.”
Charlie McLean, president and CEO of ASL Print FX, added: “MPS has built a reputation of developing high quality presses that deliver top-of-line performance in label printing. When we decided to invest in a press capable of printing complex, shorter-run wine labels to meet fast turnaround demand, MPS’ EF Symjet hybrid press was the perfect solution for our needs.”
ASL Print FX originally started off as All Stick Label, back in 1965. The company also has manufacturing plants in Vaughan and in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the USA and also prints labels for a variety of packaged goods as well as promotional items and envelopes. You can read more about this company at aslprintfx.com and can find more details on the Symjet at the MPS website.
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