MPS North America and Dion Label, along with supporting partners Kodak, Avery Dennison, Actega, Apex, AVT, CC1 and Kocher+Beck, organized a seminar and open house event Wednesday, June 22 in Springfield, MA, USA. More than 40 people attended the event. The focus was on “Improving Profits Through Technology,” and included live press demonstrations of Dion Label Printing’s new 17” MPS EF printing press.

Dion Label Printing will be profiled in the July/August 2016 issue of Label & Narrow Web.

During the morning program, several industry specialists presented the latest technologies and insights on how to improve productivity and thereby profits. Subjects discussed were the importance of ink chemistry, the latest advancements in print plate technology, the latest developments regarding anilox rolls, automated close loop print pressure settings utilizing vision systems and the latest on the MPS press technology. This seminar also included a presentation made by John Dion, co-owner and co-president of Dion Label Printing, who explained why he invested in two MPS printing presses and how he made his press purchase decision.

Dion said today’s label industry requires versatile equipment with multiple capabilties. He said, “Modularity is key. We can laminate inline, position inserts, register the web and add auxiliary equipment. It is essential that we be able to changeover from one process to another with relative ease. Modern equipment addresses essentials like registration, pressure, control and speed with little to no intervention.”

The afternoon program at Dion Label Printing included a live demonstration of Dion’s EF multi substrate press. The press demo showcased the capabilities of cost savings by utilizing the newest technology presented at the seminar. The press operator was able to reproduce an 8 color job (CMYK + 4 spot colors) with just CMYK by using Kodak Flexcell NX plates and Digicap NX imaging technology, Apex GTT anilox rolls and Act Exact Inks from Actega. This brought the setup waste down by 50% and the overall running costs down by approximately 35-40%. On top of that, the press demonstration also included 0.5 pt micro text in High Definition and Quality, all made possible by the superior web handling capabilities and Crisp.Dot technology of the EF press. After the press demonstration, Graphbury performed a live demonstration of their laser anilox cleaner.

“I am very excited about the success of this Technology Seminar,” said Michael Weyermann, Area Sales Manager for MPS. “We are very happy with the number of people attending as well as their positive feedback. People not only got to hear about the advancements in technology but they got to see it in production first hand and that was exactly our goal. Last but not least, we especially want to thank Dion Label Printing for their exceptional hospitality and partnership in organizing this event.”