GURNEE, IL—Wegmann Companies is a St. Louis, MO manufacturer of custom printed labels with extensive hybrid and digital production capabilities. The company serves most of the Midwest, and even touches the coasts.
The Wegmann team recently described the benefits they are experiencing with their CEI BossJet “powered by Domino” hybrid press installed in late 2019, and the positive impact it is having on their business and customers. The interview below was captured in the following video:
Mark Wegmann, owner of Wegmann companies, begins their story. “When we talk about Wegmann Companies, we talk about technology. When you look at our technology, it far exceeds 95 percent of the marketplace. There’s a number of people that have digital… but they don’t have the digital that we have.
“We do a lot of products that the typical label companies don’t do. And a reason why customers want to do business with us is our capabilities, both in the converting world and the printing world. And we are focusing on markets such as food and beverage, medical, electronics and others where variable imaging, variable information, any kind of variable data is critical… and we are having great success with it.”
Alex Wegmann, operations manager of Wegmann Companies, said, “What excites me most about this business is the technology. And to see things like the Domino blow the doors off everything else that I have seen, is awesome.”
This hybrid press, which combines flexography and digital UV inkjet with printing and converting in a single pass, has greatly increased production efficiency at Wegmann Companies. Alex gives examples. “There’s been multiple times where I’ve had 27 hours’ worth of production that would have been traditionally on a flexo, now I do it in one shift. From a production standpoint, come hell or high water, our customers need their products delivered on time, so we don’t have time for downtime. I can receive artwork from a customer at 8 a.m., have it on press within one hour, and have labels printed and delivered to them by the end of the day. It’s impressive.”
Mark described the due diligence from their journey. “To start the process on choosing a digital partner, we sent out materials. We had them printed, we had them sent back. We eliminated a variety of manufacturers right out of the gate, based on the quality. And then from there we went in and we produced products that were variable image, variable data…just so we could see the quality through the process. Domino shined all the way through it, while each of the others seemed to drop off as we went. And so that ultimately led to the purchase of the Domino unit.”
Mark provided a “walk and talk” to describe the CEI BossJet ‘powered by Domino’ hybrid press, highlighting specifically how he had it configured, as he moved from the beginning of the press to the end. “We start off with a 40” unwind, we have a web cleaner, a corona treater, foil, two flexo stations, a turn bar to print the back of the web, we move into the 7-color Domino where we can go from white or black to variable imaging or information into full color, we then come out and have two more flexo stations, we have the ability to create booklets, we move right into semi-rotary die cutting, from there we go into full rotary stations, scrap take-up, and at the last station we can either go roll-to-roll or roll-to-sheet. And it is all powered right here in the command center. This allows us to maintain the quality run to run. This is the quality of Domino. This is the quality of Wegmann.”
It is much more than the capabilities of this hybrid press that has the Wegmann team excited. It is knowing that they are delivering more for their customers each and every day. Alex describes it as this: “I have a sincere appreciation for graphic designers and artists, and they work really hard to bring their customers’ visions to life. So, when I receive that artwork, I know that the Domino’s quality coming off the press will exceed their expectations. The most surprising thing that I’ve seen with the Domino is how accurate the color is, and how consistent it is over time. Clearly, the Domino gives Wegmann Companies a competitive advantage…not just with turnaround times, but with print quality, and the flexibility that we can offer our customers.”
Mark said, “The level of satisfaction on the Domino digital press is very, very high. It’s extremely productive. And it’s also allowing us to go out and find new customers because we have press time to do it.”
Mark touched on a secret to their success. “For our customers and our prospects, the most important thing to understand is the label world is changing rapidly. And being with a partner that can keep you ahead of the game and differentiate your product on the shelf, or help you track and trace a product, is very important. So that gives us an edge in the marketplace, not only for today, but for well into the future.”
When you combine the external benefits that Wegmann Companies is experiencing by providing their customers with excellent print quality, color consistency and quick turnaround time, coupled with the internal benefits of increased efficiency producing work in a fraction of the time, adding capacity and growing their business with new customers, it is easy to understand why this press is a game changer.
Lastly, when we asked his thoughts on having the CEI-Domino hybrid press with one year now in the rearview mirror, Mark’s answer may surprise you. Because it was not just about the technology. It was not just about the press capabilities. It was about the people. It was about the ongoing support from a true business partner. It was about trust.
“Everything we were told, has happened. The quality of the service we get from Jessie is phenomenal. And from Emily through David Ellen…the things we were told, happened. We think CEI and Domino together make a great partnership. It’s a great press, it’s done everything that we’ve asked it to do. We have no regrets. We’re really happy with our purchase.”