CP Printing, a custom label printer in Elk Grove, CA, USA, has installed a Colordyne Technologies 3800 Series AP – Retrofit featuring aqueous pigment inkjet technology. Adding a second inkjet retrofit allows CP Printing to better satisfy customer needs for increased flexibility, faster turnaround times and affordable short-run production.

Established in 2001, CP Printing is committed to providing high quality products, delivering exceptional service and building personal trust with every label they print. The company serves a variety of markets including food and beverage, health and beauty, industrial, household goods, among others with narrow web label and offset production. CP Printing understands that digital print helps deliver the benefits its customers are looking for and retrofitting is a cost-effective way to add inkjet production to its business.

“The flexibility provided by digital print is huge for our business,” said Jeffery Wilkendorf, General Manager and Owner, CP Printing. “Currently, there are jobs we are printing flexographically that we are going to transition to the water-based pigment retrofit. We are doing this because we can get labels to customers faster. Working with Colordyne Technologies, we can consistently improve our lead times and keep them well below market standards. This is a great advantage that allows us to develop new channels and diversify our business.”

CP Printing acquired its first Colordyne press, the 3600 Series AQ – Retrofit, in 2014. This water-based dye inkjet solution helped the label converter satisfy increasing demands for affordable versioning and quick response times. In January 2021, CP Printing secured the 3800 Series AP – Retrofit Powered by Memjet to bring in additional digital capacity while also offering an expanded range of material and enhanced print durability.

“Affordability is a key benefit of the water-based pigment retrofit,” said Wilkendorf. “Printing low volume quantities and highly customized labels is simply more efficient and cost-effective with digital. Plus, inkjet production allows customers the flexibility to make changes at any time without increasing costs due to ordering new plates.”

Label laws in many of the markets that CP Printing serves are continuously changing. This means that necessary label changes must be made rapidly and efficiently. With digital print, the label converter helps its customers reduce costs by eliminating the need for flexo plates and waste from pre-printed label inventories.

“We have worked closely with CP Printing for many years. The company values the unique benefits that digital print offers to its customers,” said Taylor Buckthorpe, Director of Sales, Colordyne Technologies. “We are focusing on reducing production costs to promote the growth of CP Printing’s digital business. Our goal is to help them quickly and affordably deliver the best possible label to their customers. We are excited about the expanding possibilities with CP Printing, including their evaluation of hybrid production.”

Retrofitting allows new and existing analog equipment to incorporate the benefits of full color digital printing, like faster turnaround times, on-demand production and cost-effective versioning. CP Printing chose to retrofit Colordyne’s water-based pigment inkjet engine onto a flexo press, which allows the analog system to maintain all its original functionality, including the use of flexo stations and finishing. Retrofitting allows operators to be quickly trained on the digital equipment while using their flexo experience, and the digital engine does not take up additional space on the pressroom floor.

“What Colordyne has been able to figure out by incorporating a retrofit with a flexo press is incredible,” said Wilkendorf. “Having two times the throughput out of the same footprint and the same press operator is a great benefit for us; operationally, you can’t beat that.”