McLoone, an industrial label converter and nameplate maker, has boosted productivity, accelerated throughput, reduced material costs and increased profitability by migrating flexible label production from screen to digital with its SPGPrints DSI UV-curable inkjet press. The company prints one-third of its flexible labels digitally on the press.

Since installing the press in early 2014, McLoone’s industrial labels (stickers or decals) have been short run products, printed in batches in runs from approximately 100 linear meters (a few hundred linear feet) to a maximum of about 3,650 meters (approximately 12,000 feet). Previously, this work was carried out on the company’s 12 flatbed screen presses.

“We were experiencing heavy pricing pressure, and required to fulfill several dozen orders each day,” says Keith Rosenthal, vice president of manufacturing at McLoone. “We recognized that, by relying exclusively on flatbed screen, we were unable to achieve our growth potential due to the lengthy setup times and complicated workflows. We needed to re-engineer the industrial label manufacturing process.”

McLoone selected SPGPrints’ DSI press after being impressed with its build and compact design during demonstrations at Labelexpo Americas 2012. A five-color press, featuring opaque white along with standard CMYK, has a 333mm (13”) width and can handle the substrate program supplied by McLoone, which ranges from 51 micron (0.002”) to 254 micron (0.01”) in thickness. The company was also attracted by the press’ ability to print on a wide range of substrates with its specially formulated inks.

The single-step digital printing operation replaces as many as 20 screen production steps, which included custom-made ink formulations for every color, stock cutting, screen imaging for every color, and printing each color on separate machines. McLoone also invested in an offline digital laser cutter to accelerate finishing by eliminating the need for dies.

While a digital process results in a simpler, cost-efficient workflow, those who adopt it have to learn about prepress. McLoone’s digital manager and SPGPrints trained staff in file handling, detailing cut sizes, and other aspects of digital workflow and color specification.

“While we were impressed with the DSI’s design, what sold us most on SPGPrints was their reputation for high quality and dependability, which we needed because we had one shot at this business and could not afford to be wrong,” adds Rosenthal. “Our faith in their reputation was so strong that we were willing to go ahead even if we would be the first in the USA to install.

“Because we were dealing with new materials and new printing technology, we knew enough to expect problems – and there were problems. The SPGPrints engineers and customer service team did well to stay with us at every twist and turn as we systematically tackled each one.”   

In addition to meeting customer requirements, Rosenthal states that print quality has also increased. “With the DSI press, we have perfected half-tone reproduction, eliminating the occurrence of grainy appearances” he says. “We can achieve visually appealing graphics with high gloss, photo-equivalent quality and more precise registration in a single pass, rather than four as with screen.”

The company has also achieved UL (Underwriter’s Laboratory) accreditation for safety labels produced on the DSI using Flexcon laminates, which has reduced the cost of the approval process.