Subtle Impressions, an award-winning North Carolina label converter, installed a Mark Andy Digital One in January 2019 to fulfill its digital printing needs. The press provided the company with an alternative for the longer lead times typical with flexographic production.
After a year of production with the Mark Andy digital machine under his belt, Chris Brown, co-owner of Subtle Impressions, said that before 2019, the company's production mix lacked an asset that kept it profitable on low volume orders. These types of orders in the Subtle Impressions shop average 1,000 to 2,500 labels per run and vary across end-use segments.
"All of the existing business that prompted us to buy the Digital One initially, we have absorbed and done business above and beyond that," he said. "It’s been a great stop-gap for us when our flexo press has been too busy.”
When discussing why digital hybrid technology makes sense for Subtle Impressions, Brown said, “What’s nice about Mark Andy digital is that it is all inline. Faster throughput, less setup and clean-up times and a bridge transferable skill set and training of the existing workforce are all benefits we see in digital hybrid technology.”
The Digital Pro engine upgrade is one piece of the Digital Pro production label press product line, which consists of two models. Digital Pro 1, a base roll-to-roll solution designed for converters with strong off-line finishing workflows, as well as Digital Pro 3, a true hybrid label product enabling converters to print value-add labels for their customers.
Both Digital Pro 1 and 3 are overprint enabled, meaning the platforms can identify and register to pre-printed media. Both share a common future-proof platform design, with field integration of new advancements being compatible and accessible to existing installations now and into the future.