Japanese precision manufacturer Screen is experiencing a global surge in orders for its Truepress Jet L350UV series of digital inkjet label presses – with Australia-New Zealand at the forefront having booked or installed six machines so far in 2021 in partnership with dealer Jet Technologies.
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| The latest installation is at Limpet Labels UK – a full-spec 7-colour Screen L350UV SAI. (Ops manager Nathan Williams pictured) |
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| "A remarkable year": Peter Scott, MD Screen GP Australia. |
Local Screen GP Managing Director, Peter Scott says: “It’s been a remarkable year as demand for shorter run lengths of self-adhesive labels increases, much of it covid-related work. Label production has become a sophisticated track-and-trace and anti-counterfeit service, as well as the most effective brand identification and marketing tool. QR codes are driving this and only digital can vary them label-to-label or in small batches.”
Scott notes that many of the new L350UV orders are repeat customers, sticking with the Screen brand because of reliability, productivity, uptime, after-sales care and, in the case of the new ‘SAI’ model, greatly improved colour quality by using additional Orange and Blue inks.
“The L350UV SAI has really captured the imagination of the market at the high-end,” he says. “Customers are blown away by the vibrancy of colours, with the overall colour management processed through our partner CGS’ ORIS applications.”
The spreading reputation has also created demand for used Screen L350s, as Scott notes: “In cases where a customer’s original, 5-6 years old, Screen L350 is traded-in, they are rapidly snapped up by other customers looking to enter digital or save money. We always give them a good service and replace print heads and cover them under a warranty. In Australia, two such used machines found buyers before they had even been de-commissioned from the upgraded site.”
One such example is the first L350 customer, Sydney’s DS Labels. Owner Deane Sproule installed it in 2015, credits it with ‘saving his business’ – and recently upgraded to the latest L350UV SAI model. His traded-in machine is being installed at PDQ Labels, another Sydney firm. “For a digital press of any kind to be in demand after six years is quite remarkable,” says Scott, adding: “most will experience parts supply issues after 5-7 years and be scrapped or recycled after that. Not with Screen equipment, we have stuck with high-integrity engineering and parts support that honours the relationship with customers – some of our CtP customers can still get support on twenty-year old devices.”
Globally, Screen has reported its fifth L350 sale, a low-migration ink version, to UK label printer Springfield Solutions of Leeds; another SAI to Limpet Labels – its third Screen L350; a new SAI customer, Etifix, in Italy; a new pre-owned customer, Positive ID of Nottingham UK, a new site in Houston, Texas where the owner has replaced three other digital presses with a single L350 yet is more productive and another at Lion Labels of Massachusetts.
“The list is growing and growing,” says Scott, “Screen appears to have hit the sweet spot with the L350UV series and with our higher productivity using white ink at 50 metres-per-minute even with extra colours – flexo printers are now moving jobs onto L350s.”
Further Australian sales of Screen Truepress Jet L350UV label presses will be announced during 2021 by Screen and partner Jet Technologies.
SCREEN GP Australia Pty Ltd is a subsidiary of SCREEN Holdings Ltd, (Nikkei 225 Index No. 7735) one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of technology for the printing and pre-media industries. Its range of equipment includes digital printing presses, grand format UV printers, digital label presses, workflow systems, RIPs, proofing systems and CtP platesetters. The company is also a well-known manufacturer of equipment for the semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing industries.
