Enhance & Embellish
Gregg immediately thereafter comments, “Differentiation on store shelves is what brand owners are aiming to do. At Meyers, we can relate. What we are trying to do is differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Technology has come a long way in flexo and digital. With this new hybrid press, we feel we have something unique that gives us a competitive edge in the marketplace.”
Eric observes, “The selling point for my team with this press is really the versatility that it has in being able to provide unique graphic enhancements, as well as the digital ability to move from one version to the next quickly and efficiently—from a makeready standpoint. More than anything, it’s the enhancements that we can put on the labels. For example, being able to hit a specific PMS or logo color of a client, and then move into the digital to do the 4-color process imaging or variable printing, the two hits of opaque white, to be able to add textures, and then to be able to add cold foil to the label—those are the things the sales team has grabbed onto and is promoting.”
He credits flexo with starting Meyers’ evolution into a one-stop print shop. “Flexo incorporated having screens, hot stamps and cold foil. And then Indigo came out and created the digital press. It did not have any of those embellishments, but people didn’t care because all they wanted were short runs, a lot of versions, things like that. Now, they are saying, ‘That’s great that I have my short runs, but I want all of those other embellishments as well.’ We have a specific client we are trying to find pink glitter for, which would have to be put down in a screen unit, and printed in a single pass—from flexo to digital. That client simply says, ‘I want both.’”
Invest with Intent
Looking back over history, Dave McConnon, vice president of manufacturing, recalls, “Around 2006, we knew there was a lot of servo technology coming to the flexo market, and we knew we needed to upgrade to increase our quality and efficiency. Over the course of 18 months, we visited a lot of manufacturers, conducted print trials and narrowed the list to three or four manufacturers we were impressed with, and then ran more rigorous testing. We were not just looking for a press, we were looking for a technology to move us forward into the future. We bought our first MPS flexo press in 2008, and in a matter of six months realized the cost-justification exceeded our expectations. Shortly after, in 2010, we added a second.”
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”Meyers President Gregg Temple” link=”” color=”#FF00FF” class=”” size=””]“This press is all about answering the question ‘What can you do tomorrow, that you can’t do today, without increasing cost or lead time?”[/perfectpullquote]
Beyond flexo, Dave explains, “We have been involved with UV inkjet since 2005. We had some Jetrion technology that became costly to maintain and run, so we started looking for a replacement and discovered Domino in 2006 at Labelexpo. Around 2012, we decided to add our first Domino K600i monochrome digital UV inkjet printer, and shortly after that we added our second unit.
“Putting it all together, Gregg and I went to Labelexpo Europe in 2013, which was having the Inkjet Trail. We visited every booth. We knew we wanted to get involved with color inkjet, we didn’t know when, but we were thinking we would get involved with color inkjet when there would be hybrid presses… a flexo press integrated with digital.”
Gregg remembers the situation as well. “At that time, everybody had their inkjet engine that looked bolted onto somebody’s unwind, and somebody else’s rewind. Integration wasn’t seamless. It seemed a lot like it would be running two machines.”
He also recalls hearing talk of collaboration on the part of the two manufacturers they had flexo and digital experience with—MPS and Domino. As the show approached, management made queries into expected product introductions. Dave says, “We were asking the flexo manufacturers what they were creating for hybrid solutions. We were able to travel to Europe to see the demo press at MPS, as well as the beta press first installation in Germany. The trip went well and it met all of our expectations. We figured out before we came back to the U.S. the configuration we wanted. Essentially, we came back from Europe knowing we were moving forward with this hybrid solution.”
Gregg comments, “MPS provided us with a quote just prior to Labelexpo 2016 in Chicago. Going into that show, there was great interest to have the first North American MPS-Domino press installed at Meyers. When we were there, we decided to sign a letter of intent.” Dave adds, “We did our due diligence and we did vet other hybrid presses as well. When we signed our letter of intent on this press, one of our salespeople was out selling the solution before we even cut a PO.”
Best of Both Worlds
Looking to the future, Eric predicts, “We are going to see customers getting excited and incorporating more print techniques and enhancements into their labels and the branding of their designs. We believe this hybrid press fits really nicely into the prime label market, given the high number of SKUs and the need of the brand owners to differentiate themselves. This press allows us to bring the best of both worlds to brand marketers, so they can take advantage of the fact that their SKU volumes are going up, their labels per SKU are going down, and that they want to have a label that stands out in the marketplace.”
From his perspective, Mike Lane, CEO, offers, “The SYMJET provides Meyers with a blend in printing techniques and product capabilities which allows us to create unique possibilities for our customers’ label applications.”
Dave sees things similarly: “This press gives us another tool in our toolbox to innovate with. We don’t know what we are going to be into six months from now, so when the opportunity presents itself, this hybrid press gives us creativity and flexibility.” Gregg agrees and notes, “One of our challenges is going to be educating our customers about what the possibilities are now, because they can add enhancements to their existing labels without increasing their cost. This press is all about answering the question ‘What can you do tomorrow, that you can’t do today, without increasing cost or lead time?’ We already have a couple customers tuned into that idea and excited about it. It’s up to us now to make it happen for them.”
Matt echoes the point: “This is a great way for us to collaborate together with our customers and create what has been previously thought of as impossible.”
About the Authors: Bill Myers is marketing manager, Domino Digital Printing. Elizabeth Slama is marketing manager and senior communications specialist at Meyers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.