With 57 years of label printing expertise, South African Rebsons Labels, a family-owned business, has moved into digital label printing with its purchase of a standalone Nilpeter Panorama – the first of its kind in Africa.

In 1963, Rebsons Labels purchased its first printing press and started to produce labels – thus becoming a self-adhesive label manufacturing company. Rebsons Labels has “moved with the technological trends over the past years, upgrading and purchasing state-of-the-art label printing equipment,” says Rebsons’ owner Benny Friedmann.

The Nilpeter Panorama is next in line. “There is a constant and ever-growing demand for digitally printed labels; run-lengths are getting shorter, and customers require variable data on labels and demand shorter delivery times,” says Friedmann.

“In addition to being a loyal Nilpeter customer for more than 40 years, we assessed the digital market during a 2- to 3-year period, and decided that the standalone Panorama was by far the best solution for us. An immediate benefit is our vast production of generic labels with variable data for a large supermarket chain customer – the Panorama allows us to reduce production time and stock holding of variants, and enables us to print on demand and improve cash flow,” he adds.

In 1972, Friedmann attended his first drupa exhibition with the intention of buying a flexo press of the same brand as those already in his production. However, when Friedmann arrived at the Nilpeter booth and saw the S-185 4-color flexo press, his eyes lit up. He admitted to the South African Nilpeter agent that this was his dream machine, but unfortunately, it was out of his price range. Luckily the Nilpeter agent had good contacts in the South African banking industry, so he pulled a few strings and managed to arrange funding. This meant the beginning of a 40-year business relationship.

“My first Nilpeter press changed my business. Suddenly I was able to print the highest quality. I printed self-adhesive labels that were far more sophisticated, launching my business into an entirely different league,” Friedmann explains. “All the presses I have bought since have been state-of-the-art, and I have retained my advantage.”

Over the years, Rebsons has bought many Nilpeter presses. In the 80s, before the era of trade sanctions, the first B-200 was acquired. As Danish suppliers to South Africa were part of the sanctions, trading stopped, but in 1992 with sanctions lifted, Rebsons bought a second B-200 and a third followed shortly thereafter. Nilpeter FA-2500, FB-2500, and FB-3300S have all been part of the growth at Rebsons, and now the next step has been taken with the addition of the Panorama.

Rebsons Labels is a leading supplier of labels in South Africa and produces self-adhesive labels for local and international clientele from various industries.