Acorn Labels has installed a TD430 plain-label converting line from Daco Solutions. It is the finishing equipment manufacturer’s first TD machine with a 430mm web width – as specifically requested by the UK-based converter.

Acorn Labels, based in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, installed its first piece of Daco Solutions equipment – a turret rewinder – exactly 20 years ago, and the new TD430 is testament to the companies’ long-standing relationship.

Already a user of multiple TD plain-label converting lines with 350mm web width, Acorn Labels approached Daco Solutions last year to request a wider machine that would help the company meet increasing demand. The result is a new 430mm version of the TD line, built specially for Acorn Labels and now available to Daco Solutions’ customers worldwide.

“Flexibility is key,” states Daco Solutions’ sales manager Mark Laurence. “You must be able to supply the customer with whatever system they need. Acorn Labels has installed more than 20 machines from us over the years, and is one of our top customers.”

According to Acorn Labels’ production manager Sam Heneker, the productivity of the new wider machine is already evident in the short time since its installation. “The extra width provided by the TD430 enables us to get more labels across the web. At full speed, that extra width makes the machine so much more productive: it just eats up material. It’s awe-inspiring,” says Heneker.

“There can be concerns with going wider, particularly at the speed the machine runs,” he continues, adding, “You never really know until you start using a machine on the factory floor. There are small things you can find when you begin to operate it. But Daco has got everything right. The machine is easy to master. It’s all one process: the converted material comes straight off the machine and into the box, so it saves a lot of time. Job changeovers are very quick. Everything about the TD430 is highly efficient, and we are very happy with it.”

Alongside the multiple Daco TD systems for plain-label printing, Acorn Labels runs flexo presses from Focus Machinery and Edale, and installed a Domino N610i inkjet system – its first digital press – in 2015. High quality labels printed on the Domino press are converted on a Daco DF350SR digital finishing system.

But according to Heneker, plain-label production has become an increasing focus of Acorn’s business. “It wasn’t a deliberate strategy, but in terms of demand, productivity and profitability, the plain labels produced on the Daco machines have become the core area of our business.”

Acorn Labels’ relationship with Daco dates to 2003 with that first turret rewinder installation. One of its semi-automatic turret rewinders, which runs for 18 hours a day, has produced more than 45 million linear meters of labels – more than the circumference of the globe.

“Our relationship with Daco Solutions goes back 20 years, and their machines have made us more competitive in the market,” says Heneker. “Our assistant production manager, Jon Peckham, is incredibly knowledgeable about Daco machines – he is like a Daco engineer. Our factory floor is like a Daco showroom, and we will buy more machinery from them in the future, I’m sure.

“The support you get from Mark Laurence and David Beynon is second to none. It’s exemplary. If we need something, wherever David is in the world – and he’s usually somewhere far-flung like Pakistan or Japan – he picks up the phone and sorts it out.”

The Daco Solutions TD350/430 plain-label converting line is equipped with a high capacity U350L 1m (40in) unwind module to keep master roll changes to a minimum. The SVT 4 spindle servo-driven turret rewinder offers quick changeover times, while the machine can be configured with either one or two servo-driven rotary die stations.

The Daco TD turret rewind module uses a unique double-sided patented tape system for attaching the web to the cores, and the finished rolls are closed using a label printed by an on-board TEC thermal transfer printer. The operator can select from either length or a given number of labels per roll and the machine will then automatically cut and transfer the web to the cores without stopping.

“The system has a host of optional equipment which enables a very adaptable plain-label converting because of its modular construction,’ comments Daco Solutions’ sales manager Mark Laurence. “With the addition of flexo print units the machine is capable of manufacturing weigh scale labels, color-washed labels and retail labels all in one pass.”