Mark Andy reported a healthy level of interest in its flexo and digital press solutions at the recently held Label Summit in Colombia.

Speaking for the company, John Vigna, area sales manager for LATAM, comments, “With the current political situation in the Andean region creating a degree of uncertainty for investors, we had limited expectations of what might be achieved by attending the Summit. In fact, we were surprised and encouraged by the interest shown, especially in our digital toner technology.”

Recorded visitors to the Mark Andy booth came from Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and Mexico, as well the home market of Colombia, with Vigna reporting a significant number of quality conversations that should lead to increased sales in the region.

Colombia thrives on its exports so demand for printed packaging is high. It is the world’s largest supplier of roses and the third largest supplier of coffee after Brazil and Vietnam. Fruit, especially bananas, is a cash crop and 95% of all its exports go to the nearby US. Despite this, run lengths are generally small for labels, and this prompted the level of enquiries for Mark Andy’s Digital Pro Series, which uses toner technology.

With the current slowdown in investment having an impact of the workforce, converters are looking for more efficient production methods and offering incentives to attract skilled staff from other countries. “We see this as a good opportunity to introduce our latest technology to Colombia because it offers significant improvements to both production efficiency and cost effectiveness,” explains Vigna.

Right now, flexo accounts for around 60% of label production in the region, and although the shorter run lengths would appear to make digital a better option, the cost factor has until now proved a barrier to its adoption. “The Digital Pro Series changes that,” states Vigna, “because it has an accessible price point and offers single pass production with inline finishing. This reduces waste and the need for additional labor associated with offline processing. Added to which, it has a small footprint that makes it ideal for compact production areas that typify the LATAM market, and significantly no ‘click charge’, which is often seen as the sting in the tail of going digital.”

Neither as highly security conscious nor environmentally minded as the US and Europe, for example, the LATAM region is nevertheless keen to embrace new technology in the package print sector, and the lower the initial investment cost and greater the production efficiency the better. “The Digital Pro Series could have been designed specifically for this market – it ticks all the boxes, and we are optimistic for its future across the region,” he concludes.