The recent PacPrint tradeshow was the best one for Epson yet, with the company seeing an overwhelming number of enquiries and interest for its SurePress label solutions.

Epson Australia saw an overwhelming interest in its new label presses featured on its stand at the recent PacPrint tradeshow.

The company showcased a range of its latest innovations at the event, including its SurePress L-4733AW with its inline spectrophotometer, and the SureColor V7000 UV flatbed printer.

“PacPrint was the most successful event to date for Epson Australia, with an overwhelming number of enquiries and interest for Epson SurePress label solutions,” Epson Australia general manager of marketing Bruce Bealby said. 

“The current pandemic could have created a situation of ‘technology deprivation’ over the past two years, or perhaps it’s just time for label converters, commercial printers and manufacturers to seriously consider a digital label printing investment.”

Epson has been manufacturing digital label presses for over 10 years in Japan, with over 500 installations globally.

Global customers include the Osaka Sealing Printing company that just installed its 29th SurePress L-4000 series label press.

Australia and New Zealand have also been keen early adopters of this innovative inkjet technology with over 17 installations to date and climbing.

Epson continues to invest in the label printing sector globally including R&D into MIS integration, colour management software, application specific ink technology and future press platform designs to address the on-demand label market.

“Epson is a world leader in inkjet technology with its own patented inkjet printhead and robotic controller technology. Epson continues to develop cutting edge product design which is innovative and ultimately exceeds customers’ expectations in terms of print quality, build and after-sales service,” Bealby said.

A solution for each and every label printing application

“If your company requires a highly productive digital label press with features including a jumbo unwinder, automatic visual inspection system and inline finishing with fully integrated die cutting, UV varnish, lamination and slitting. Epson has a solution for your needs,” Bealby said.

“Or you could be thinking that you need to reduce running costs and invest in a versatile digital label press which delivers the most cost-effective entry solution into short-run label production. We have a solution for you too.”

The SurePress L-4733AW is a water-based resin ink digital label press, which aims to deliver improved automation.

This new addition to the SurePress line offers higher levels of print quality, consistency, flexibility and value for label converters, specialty printers and vertical manufacturers.

The SurePress L-4733AW builds on the success of its predecessor, the L-4533AW, to offer advanced automation and unattended printing features, higher productivity with improved print speed on film and support for printing on a wider range of substrates. Additionally, an optional inline spectrometer is available.

This solution was created as label converters and specialty printers are looking for solutions that are simple and cost-effective to operate and maintain, and can deliver on stable, predictable production.

Epson enhanced its industrial SurePress line-up by adding new capabilities to the L-4733AW which can help businesses save on upfront costs and maintenance.  These advancements come without the compromise of simple operation and maintenance, production or print quality.

With the optional SureSpectro AS-4000 inline spectrometer for real-time automated measurements to speed profiling and ensure consistent output for multi-plant networks, the L-4733AW delivers accurate spot colours and gradients required for brand-quality colour prime labels and packaging.

The L-4733AW also supports a range of substrates, including off-the-shelf flexo materials, without the need to surface prime. Its inks meet the latest safety standards and regulations, such as REACH, and deliver high-quality images, making it a versatile press for converters focusing on food and beverage and health and beauty labels.

Footprint Printing, based in Mandurah in Western Australia, took to PacPrint to purchase a new Epson SurePress L-4533AW digital label printer.

The company, thus far, has been a lithographic printer offering design, full colour printing and digital printing but will soon expand its offerings into the labels space once the machine has been installed at its premises.

Footprint owners and father-son duo Patrick Oldfield and James Oldfield made the purchase through Epson distributor Fujifilm Business Innovation Australia.

Footprint has been a Fujifilm customer for cut sheet innovation and an Epson customer for wide format, but this is the first customer for both companies through their distributorship deal.

“We do a lot of digital work and offset lithographic. We saw an opportunity to diversify into labels as we’re very close to the Margaret River Winery region and want to create solutions in-house for our customer, Margaret River Wines,” James said.

Footprint has thus far been outsourcing most of its labels work.

“We have been doing a lot of sheetfed label work for short-runs. Our client is getting bigger and doesn’t want to be hand labelling. So, we’re going to be doing a lot of it on the Epson SurePress L-4533AW printer,” Patrick added.

“The lithographic side of our business is getting smaller and smaller too, so we will be filling up that gap with more labels work.

This machine will support us because the quality that it produces is great and it’s easy to operate. It’s everything we need.”

The SurePress L-4533AW digital label press incorporates Epson’s MicroPiezo inkjet printhead and uses industrial grade Epson SurePress AQ ink.

It is designed for converters who wish to produce general purpose and specialised labels in short and ultra-short print runs on paper and film stocks. It produces output on coated and uncoated substrates with a high colour gamut, high colour accuracy, and outstanding print resolution and precision.

Fujifilm Business Innovation Australia senior product specialist Darren Yeates said its output is compatible with a wide range of industry standard finishing equipment for a low set-up cost with maximum production flexibility.

“Footprint needed to diversify its offerings as opportunities presented itself. And that’s exactly the reason for our partnership with Epson – that their existing customer base can diversify into labels,” Yeates said.

“There is a low barrier to entry in terms of skillset with the machine and as general commercial printers, Footprint can easily transition and diversify into labels. We’re hoping to schedule the install in the next month or so and are excited to see what they can do with the machine.” 

A one-of-a-kind UV solution designed for optimal performance

As for the SurePress L-6534VW, it is Epson’s latest UV inkjet digital label press which is now able to run in-line with a GM LUW500 jumbo roll unwinder, an AVT or BST inspection station, and a GM DC330 finishing line.

To enable this, Epson recently extended its partnership with GM, providing an integrated, productive and streamlined label printing and finishing solution to meet high volume label production demands.

This new capability is targeted at label converters looking to improve operational efficiency for longer print runs, while maintaining the versatility needed for shorter print jobs.

New in-line connection options available for the SurePress L-6534VW include:

• Jumbo unwinder – By minimising operator intervention, the GM LUW500 maximises productivity.

The unwind module is fully synchronised to the press with stepless electronic tension setting, roll pick up from the floor and an easy to-use graphic touch screen.

• Inspection system – Available from AVT or BST, inspection systems provide additional support for process control and quality assurance where necessary, to meet specific production demands.

• In-line finisher – The GM DC330 finisher is capable of high-speed production.  It can be operated as a fully integrated in-line converter or off-line for flexible finishing options.

“The result of over 10 years’ collaboration with GM, these innovative and proven connection options for our SurePress UV inkjet digital presses will provide an even more productive solution for streamlined, end-to-end, high volume label production. It’s an exciting development that we are confident will open even greater possibilities for our customers,” Bealby said.

The SurePress L-6534VW digital inkjet label press aims to provide high productivity and outstanding finish at print speeds up to 50m/min.

Its key features include: built-in reliability and stability functions, UV LED pinning between colours, Nozzle Verification Technology, support for a wide range of paper and film label substrates between 80 and 320 microns in thickness, with a printable width of 330mm, standard configuration including corona treater, web cleaner, white ink, digital varnish, and an additional UV curing unit, in addition to other features.

The SurePress L-6534VW also comes with optional digital varnish for high valueadded tactile effects or orange ink for expanded colour gamut to achieve 91 per cent of the Pantone range. Additional options also include automated workflow options and highly productive inline unwinding, inspection system and finishing options.

A SureColor like no other

Epson Australia also displayed its first-ever flatbed printer, the SureColor V7000, at PacPrint – a press that delivers flexible production with outstanding image quality and a reduced running cost.

It prints on a wide range of substrates including paper, film, Coreflute, vinyl, canvas, aluminium and acrylic, and produces image quality to suit the most exacting applications including signage, POS/POP, premium packaging, décor, custom cabinetry and fine art.

The printer incorporates eight Epson MicroPiezo printheads. Each head features 1,440 microfine nozzles with variable size dots as small as four picolitres. Working in conjunction with a new 10 colour Ultrachrome UV ink set, it will produce images with a very wide gamut and fine gradation. White and varnish can even be applied as spot colours for enhanced detail and finish.

The SC-V7000 offers a 1.25m by 2.5m print area that supports media up to 80mm thick and 50kg/m2. It features a vacuum system with four independently adjustable zones for flexible operation.

Integrated layout pins and a height sensor on the head carriage enable easy media setting while an ioniser ensures reliable and consistent output. The print heads are mounted in a staggered array that enables up to three layers to be applied in a single pass (white + colour + varnish).

It is also supplied complete with Epson Edge Print RIP software and Flatbed Controller software. It can be managed from the desktop using Epson Edge Dashboard and supports Epson’s new Cloud Solution PORT service.

Golden Signs Australia, a Western Sydney based custom sign specialist involved in the design and manufacture of signage, was one of the most recent companies in the A/NZ region to install an Epson SureColor V7000 UV flatbed printer.

It has seen massive improvements in its efficiencies since installing the machine.

Epson Australia marketing communications manager Nathan Fulcher said when Golden Signs needed to upgrade its printer to a fast, affordable, and reliable solution that can keep up with the business’ growth, it turned to the SureColor V7000.

“The V7000 is perfect for the work that they do. It fits into a very niche space where customers require high quality, wide gamut print with options such as varnish, white, and additional colours such as red and grey. It allows us to provide a full gamut print at quality, with speed,” he said.

“Golden Signs’ volume of printing was over a thousand square metres in a fortnight since using the SureColor V7000. We were pleasantly surprised to see just how much they were putting through it.”

Golden Signs owner Danny Awad said the company didn’t set its sights far from Epson when selecting a printer.

“Golden Signs was established in 1980 by my parents. The business has flourished under their watch. My brother Brad and I have taken on the reins and taken the business to new heights. Our business now consists of serving the retail industry and we’ve been in the business of UV flatbed printing for about five years now,” he said.

“Our old printer couldn’t keep up with our growth. We started having issues with our printer, and not the best support for it. We needed a printer that could keep up with our growth and our demand. We didn’t look anywhere else except Epson as it is a world-class company with leading print technology, and it is reliable.

“Partnering with Epson puts us at the forefront of technology in our space.  With that sort of technology, it will ensure that we carry on into the future for another 40 years and hand on our business to future generations.”

Epson Australia also directly sells and services its label press solutions – this means online remote diagnostics, real-time customer management systems and a national onsite service program are backed by a highly efficient service team.