Victoria-based label convertor Action Labels & Nameplates has installed a new Epson press, the SurePress L-6034VW industrial UV label solution, at its facility.

The company, which currently uses a combination of roll-to-roll letterpress and roll-to-roll screen printing machinery, said it invested in the industrial UV label press as its digital printing was done on smaller roll-to-roll inkjet and toner equipment and needed better equipment.

A business that started in 1945, Action Labels & Nameplates is undergoing a digital transformation under new ownership, headed by CEO James Malone. This meant that the company needed to invest in new equipment such as the Epson SurePress L-6034VW industrial UV label press.

Malone said he had been watching UV inkjet develop in terms of quality and speed over the years and saw an opportunity where a UV LED inkjet solution would give Action Labels & Nameplates the advantage in the growing short-to-medium run durable label markets.

“Action Labels have a good range of semi rotary and intermittent printing machinery that operate well, however the demand has been increasing for short runs of labels and multiple SKUs and conventional printing machinery is getting less competitive in today’s digital world,” he said.

“So, we started looking for a solution and decided the Epson SurePress L-6034VW was ideal. The SurePress L-6034VW certainly fulfils our requirements and those of the market. It can print on stock widths from 80mm to 340mm wide and the digital varnish station in the final station allows matt or gloss UV varnish effects to be created after CMYK or WCMYK printing.

“Epson is a multi-billion-dollar turnover company so there is significant support and backing from the business. It also designed and made the press from the ground up and makes its own inks and PrecisionCore printheads. These are all big advantages for us.”

For Malone, it was important to find a machine that not only could print on a wide range of substrates with durable and lightfast inks but could also print on many different widths of stock from 80mm up to 340mm.

“After looking at many UV inkjet presses in the marketplace is was soon apparent that there is a lot of similarity amongst the various models. With so many UV Inkjet presses already installed in Australia we needed to find a UV Inkjet press that would make us stand out from the competition. That UV press is the Epson SurePress L-6034VW,” he said.

The press comes standard with wide gamut CMYK, high opacity white and digital varnish inks, led curing, corona treater, web cleaner, ioniser, eye mark sensor and an additional UV curing lamp. The Epson SurePress L-6034VW comes with an Adobe Illustrator plugin as well.

“The positive feedback of the high-quality output due to the colour pinning control and centre drum web handling platen has been great. Also, the innovative digital varnish ink printed in one pass gives our brand owners the flexibility of either matte and gloss using spot varnishes to add high value and very appealing accents that lift the visual appearance of specific areas,” Malone added.

“As a result, we are using the SurePress L-6034VW for CMYK printing and durable labels for the lucrative cosmetics, beer and wine markets. The press has a zero-point reverse feature so very little stock is wasted.

“Adding to Action Labels & Nameplates large range of diecutting, hot foiling and screen printing machinery, the SurePress L-6034VW provides the perfect digital engine to allow us to serve a wide range of industries including fast turnaround trade printing of labels and tags.

“The value of having one supplier design and manufacture all the key technologies of a digital label press cannot be underestimated. This, combined with Epson’s excellent local service and support made this purchase a no-brainer.”