Rapid Machinery Company, the Australian-based manufacturer of Memjet-powered narrow web digital label printing systems, has completed the installation of a digital label printing line comprising a Rapid X2 press, a Rapid D2 die-cutter/laminator and Rapid SR2 rewinder, in the far north of Australia at Aldine Printers, Cairns, Queensland.
Despite being in a remote location – tropical Cairns is closer to Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby than to its own state capital of Brisbane – the city region of approximately 285,000 population is a thriving and diverse economy with its own international airport but perhaps best known as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree rainforest tourist attractions. Aldine Printers is a family run business established in 1993 and today run by husband and wife team Rob and Tracy Kingdom, with a total of seven employees.
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| Tracy and Rob Kingdom with their new Rapid X2 line |
“We have a customer base that covers most of Eastern Australia plus Papua New Guinea,” says Rob Kingdom: “because of our specialised range of labels and reputation for care and consistency, word gets around and our website attracts visitors from many places.”
The specialised range Rob refers to includes a stock range of labels used by butchers and supermarkets, often printed on bright fluorescent substrates. The company also prints hot-foil and full colour labels and offers design services. The press stable includes a Nilpeter FA2400 five-colour UV; a Rapid RP180 foiling press, three Roland DG wide format printer cutters, thermal printers and the most recent acquisition – a Rapid X2 digital press running up to a 220mm web with inline die-cutting, laminating and rewinding.
Rob says: “We have been watching the development of the Memjet and Rapid digital label technology for some time and we decided it was the right time to move – the technology is now ready and proven. As a Rapid customer of 16 years with the hot-foil machine, we knew about the build quality and reliability of the company. We travelled to the Melbourne PacPrint exhibition in May and saw for the first time the complete X2 line with much needed die cutting and laminating, so we ordered it on the spot.”
Aldine Printers is experiencing a strong demand for full colour labels in short and mid-size runs. “We have the excellent Roland DG wide format printer cutters for very short runs of full colour labels, but they are quite slow and require hand-slitting into rolls,” says Rob; “our demand for mid-level label runs was increasing so the Rapid X2 makes complete sense. Although we would normally put four colour runs over 10,000 labels, depending on metres used, on the Nilpeter; we have actually produced a 30,000 label run on the Rapid X2.”
Rob also praises the quality of the Rapid X2, saying: “We are amazed at the quality coming off the Rapid X2; the resolution of very fine text is perhaps the best on all our presses and I would especially praise the colour rendition – our operators are getting the correct colour from PDF designs very quickly and with little effort; the electronics seem to interpret PDFs perfectly. Being so far from Brisbane and Sydney, we have to be self-sufficient up here and so far looking after the Rapid X2 line has proven easy. We carry a couple of Memjet printheads in reserve, files and ink cartridges and we are fortunate to have an excellent substrate partner in Spicers Paper, who carry reserve rolls for us in Townsville, only 350 kilometers away!”
Rapid’s General Manager Nick Mansell says: “We are delighted to continue our long-standing association with Aldine Printers by supplying the X2 digital line. The Cairns region, like most of Northern Australia, is a go-ahead place and Aldine has always been innovative in the label industry. We look forward to contributing to the further growth of this great North Queensland company.”
Rapid Machinery Company
www.rapidxdigital.com
Aldine Printers
www.aldineprinters.com.au
