Mark Andy continues to organize special events for print-oriented students, which this year saw two groups of young people attend a workshop at its Warsaw, Poland-based Technology Center. More than 120 students from Polish technical universities and high schools participated in an Open House that consisted of theoretical and practical tutorials and demonstrations. The workshops included presentations of the three printing presses installed in the Warsaw demo room, covering flexo and hybrid technologies.

“These meetings are aimed at our future printers, and the event has become a Mark Andy Europe tradition for the universities and high schools,” says Lena Chmielewska-Bontron, European marketing manager, Mark Andy.  “This year we decided to split the students into two groups to match the sessions to their knowledge and qualifications. So, we focused mainly on theory with the high school students, while the technical universities’ students took part in a practical workshop that included setting up presses and printing jobs.”

All the guests were able to see three Mark Andy presses in action, including the newest flexo line, the Pro Series. “The feedback was very positive, and it was clear that our agenda really tapped into the students’ interest.  We were delighted to see their involvement as we’re all very conscious of the global shortage of highly skilled and qualified people in the printing industry.” 

Mark Andy has several goals in organizing these events. “First, we leverage and create knowledge and provide a technical background for future print industry employees.  And second, we show and promote printing as a very interesting and future-proof industry, with label production being core to the Mark Andy business.”

Opening the event, Lena Chmielewska-Bontron warmly welcomed the students before handing over to Lukasz Chruslinski, European Sales Manager, who gave a keynote speech covering different aspects of label printing.  He started with a short presentation of Mark Andy as a manufacturer and pioneer of narrow-web presses, with its 77 years of history and market presence. “Our company was a kind of cradle for narrow-web printing, because it started and developed with Mark Andrews, the founder of Mark Andy,” he says.

Today, Mark Andy is acknowledged as a global leader in narrow-web flexo presses, as well as a pioneer of flexo/digital hybrid technology, covering both inkjet- and toner-based techniques. “We’re observing a significant and rapid growth in the sales of Mark Andy hybrids worldwide, right now,” Chruslinski add.

Lukasz Chruslinski went on to present current trends in the narrow web print sector, focusing especially on the label industry.  He pointed out that geopolitical and economic uncertainty are key factors currently influencing the activities of many entrepreneurs and consumers. “To be honest, in today’s market conditions it is very hard to predict the future, even within a very short time perspective,” he said.  “We have experienced very stormy years recently and there are no clear indications that the situation will get better any time soon.”

Taking these conditions into account, it is crucial for companies to be flexible and agile, so they can respond quickly.  Mark Andy meets these market trends by offering presses and manufacturing lines that allow label converters to cope with the many challenges they face with changing market trends.  These include decreasing run lengths and smaller orders, shorter delivery times, the growing importance of

e-commerce, VDP and versioning, as well as technology aspects like the growing interest in linerless, peel-off, and RFID labels.  “We’re watching all these trends very closely and analysing the situation with our customers,” says Chruslinski. “This allows us to prepare and develop the new technology for investment projects.”

Mark Andy’s student guests saw working demonstrations on three printing presses installed at the company’s Technology Center. These included the newly introduced Pro Series, and Evolution Series E5 flexo lines, as well as the hybrid Digital Series HD. The same label designs were printed on each press, allowing for comparisons of the finished labels produced by different processes.  The university students were invited to set up the presses by themselves including make-ready and press start-up. They were supervised and supported by print specialists and service technicians from Mark Andy Europe.

“We were very impressed with the interest shown by all the students who took part, especially their involvement in workshop.  They were very active, asking many detailed questions and were keen to set up presses and start new print jobs.  For both events we prepared and printed occasional labels that showed all the participants, which proved a fun and much appreciated souvenir.  We hope they all have good memories of their visit to Mark Andy and that meeting our specialists and seeing and using our technology will provide them with a solid background to their learning process.  We believe that meetings like these provide encouragement and make them keen to spend their future in printing industry,” Lena Chmielewska-Bontron concludes.