Sydney’s DS Labels is the first company in the A/NZ region to own a Screen Truepress L350UV SAI press in A/NZ.
Purchased through Screen’s local partner Jet Technologies, DS Labels owner Deane Sproule owned a Truepress Jet L350UV, which it installed in 2015, 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,” Screen GP Australia managing director, Peter Scott said.
“Most will experience parts supply issues after five to seven 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 20-year-old devices.”
Screen is experiencing a global surge in orders for its Truepress Jet L350UV series of digital inkjet label presses, with the A/NZ region at the forefront of press orders.
Australia and New Zealand, to date, has booked or installed six machines in 2021, in partnership with Jet Technologies.
Scott said, “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 also mentioned 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,” he added.
The spreading reputation has also created demand for used Screen L350s, as Scott said, “In cases where a customer’s original, five to six 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.”
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. 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,” Scott said.
