Data Communications Management (DCM) of Brampton, Ontario installed the first Labelfire 340 in Canada from Heidelberg-Gallus to enhance their performance in running short-run, on-demand labels.
The Holistic Approach
A market leader in Canada for print on-demand, DCM has spent the past 50 years focusing on traditional flexographic labels. As one of the largest label manufacturers in Canada, DCM expects that their new Labelfire 340 will take the company to another level with variable printing. According to Alan Roberts, Senior Vice President at DCM, “our clients are looking for shorter runs and more customization on their labels. If we’re going to be a leader in short-run prime label business, we need the best piece of hybrid technology, and I believe we are going to receive it with the Heidelberg-Gallus Labelfire 340.”
Raising the bar in the label market, the Labelfire 340 combines the latest digital printing technology with the benefits of conventional printing and further processing technology. The Labelfire prints at 50 m/min, which will help meet DCM’s growing customers’ demands for short runs. The flexo-digital press is a complete in-line solution that handles digital flexo, cold foil, rotary screen, and die-cutting from start to finish.
“We believe that a hybrid press versus a pure digital press is the right solution that gives us the flexibility to meet customer demands, especially since we are now able to do everything in-line in one pass,” said Roberts. “With other pure digital technology, you have to take everything off the press and bring it to another piece of equipment, which takes a lot more time and labor. The Labelfire is a more holistic approach that I believe will make us stand out in the marketplace.”
Another impressive factor for DCM was the Labelfire’s additional features that enhance the labels’ quality and color. Printing at 1200x1200 dpi, the Labelfire features the latest inkjet technology with 7 colors plus white and three flexo conventional print units on the digital side. Based on the needs of the customer, DCM is also able to print flexo white or digital white without slowing down the press speeds. The Labelfire is run by Heidelberg’s Prinect Digital Front End, which includes spot color matching, the PDF Toolbox, and Prepress Manager.
Service — The Competitive Advantage
Due to the Heidelberg-Gallus integration, DCM has access to the largest service coverage in the industry to ensure that they are getting the most from their equipment and that a close-by technician is always readily available.
“One of the main reasons we went with the Labelfire is having service coverage available to us 24/7 – it’s a huge competitive advantage,” said Roberts. “Other companies we’ve worked with in the past would have to send us service from the U.S., but Heidelberg has service technicians right in Canada that can get to us quickly and efficiently — it’s a huge plus.”
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