After two decades as an offset printing specialist, Auckland-based PrintLounge is embracing the new business opportunities available from digital diversification including its recent investment in a Durst Tau 340 RSC E LED label press.

Just weeks after installation in June this year, PrintLounge owner Steve Sheppard is already seeing an immediate return on investment from his new Durst Tau 340 RSC E LED label press.

“When we bought the Durst we wanted to upgrade our existing toner based solution to a machine that would produce quality labels at 1200dpi with a wider colour gamut and would allow us to market ourselves to pretty much anybody who came to us looking to put something on a supermarket shelf.

“Unfortunately the equipment we had before the Durst didn’t have white ink, so this meant we were saying no to a lot of jobs when we were quoting – and I hate saying no to work.

“Since we installed the Durst we have brought back in-house a number of customers that we previously had to outsource to other label companies. We have also been winning new work from many sources, including social media, where we have always been active. “Just this morning we received an order from a client that wanted 2000 labels within a week as their current label company was unable to do it. Later in the morning we received a second job from the same company – and these jobs will be perfect for the Durst.”

Upgrading to the Durst

Durst head of sales for labels and packaging, Graham Blackall, first discussed a label solution with PrintLounge over five years ago. Although Blackall was unsuccessful with the sale on that occasion, he has maintained a close relationship with Sheppard and the PrintLounge ever since, so when he joined Durst at the end of last year, he knew the Tau would suit their business perfectly.

“I have been working with Steve for the last 25 years after he gave me a phone call about some second hand equipment and since then I have sold him nothing but new equipment. He is an entrepreneurial businessman as well as a craftsman that has a strong understanding and appreciation of the machines,” Blackall said.

“About five years ago, Steve recognised he needed to diversify his business due to the pressures on offset and the reduction in order volumes. What I was offering at the time was too big a step for his company and he bought another machine that was more cost effective. I told him to buy a very good finishing unit, as he would only be

buying it once.

“PrintLounge quickly outgrew their previous label press, and after a lot of consideration he went with the Tau 340 RSC E LED because he wanted to have the ability to talk to anybody about any quality of labels with no limitations – whether it was about colour gamut, quality, productivity as well as support and service. The process of upgrading to the second machine was a nine-month discussion. It was a serious investigation into the labels category from day one five years ago about a very deliberate diversification process from dipping the toe into the category through to now purchasing the Durst label press.”

Researching the market

Sheppard finally settled on the Durst Tau 340 RSC E LED within the last hours of the final day of Labelexpo Brussels in September 2023 after numerous discussions and researching the market on both sides of the Tasman.

“We were looking for a machine that could advance us from our original label press we had at the time that was only running CMYK and had a limited colour gamut. We had to choose something that everyone else wasn’t doing and this is why we have gone down this path and that’s why it has been successful,” Sheppard said.

“By upgrading we wanted to increase our colour gamut and we wanted white so we could print on clear and silver polypropylene stocks and really open up the label market for us to a wide range of other jobs. We had come to a certain point with our previous machine where it was going well, but we were missing out on jobs because it didn’t have the orange and green that the Durst can do and we also need white ink as well.

“Before we bought the Durst, we were pretty much decided on another machine that was 600dpi and we thought the Durst was out of reach for us. Even though the price was a little higher, the Durst ticked a lot of boxes for us – build quality, 1200dpi resolution, colour

gamut and white ink. Plus the Durst is upgradeable to 80 linear metres per minute, so the machine can grow with us!

“We had done plenty of homework over about nine months including travelling to Australia and inspecting various machines in Melbourne and Brisbane. I visited a number of different printers with similar Durst machines in Australia including the 1200dpi machine and a slightly older machine. They all had very good things to say about the Durst technology.”

Digitial diversification

“We are definitely trying to diversify here at PrintLounge – if we look back 10 years ago, we didn’t have a digital offering and now it represents a solid double digit percentage of our turnover. You have to diversify your business – you can’t go on doing the same thing otherwise you will not survive,” Sheppard said.

“Like a lot of other businesses, we started off as a conventional printer and now we offer commercial print, packaging, digital printing and rolls labels. Our diversification into roll labels has been one of the best things we could have done as the label market is growing – particularly here in New Zealand.

“There are a lot of label printers with an old school mentality where they are only offering lead times of two to three weeks.

We are seeing this as an opportunity for our business. Now we have the Durst, we have started to print labels using white ink as well as clear work and all of the different colours. The quality is great and we can also add varnishes on top. We recently ran a 3400 metre job in just over an hour with three role changes on the Durst – and that wasn’t even at the top speed. This means we can almost compete with flexo over shorter runs which is very exciting. We have also invested in an LED offset press, so it seemed like the correct path to invest in LED with the Durst as well over a conventional mercury lamp – less power and less heat and it also delivers a nicer drying system that works very well.”

Training and installation

With over 42 years of experience as an analog printer and letterpress specialist, PrintLounge digital operator Mike Anderson was recently trained up to become the operator of the Durst Tau 340 RSC E LED label press.

“I’m seeing a much bigger range of nice bright strong greens and pinks from the colour gamut on the Durst that I have not seen on any other label printer. And when you compare the Durst to other machines – the analog or offset machines are not even close. It is especially notable when you profile the material and see the full range of colours it can do. Since I have had an analog printing background already, the transition to the Durst was not very complicated.

The key for me is to know what to do when you need to make a colour adjustment and my conventional background has made my transition quite easy.”

Software integration

Brittney Anderson, who has worked with PrintLounge as pre-press digital supervisor for over four years has recently started working with the Durst software including the Workflow Plus modules.

“The Durst label press software and Workflow Plus software has been amazing to work with. Every day after I started playing around I would find more features and say ‘Oooh that’s cool’ – such as being able to create a die-line as well as the white in the software. There is so much in it and we essentially don’t even need to use Pitstop or anything beforehand – you can drop the file in and do everything within the software. The way everything is laid out makes it very easy to understand. Things that can be quite difficult with pre-press with other software is a click of a button on the Durst software.”

Durst Oceania managing director, Matt Ashman, said he is very pleased to have another label press installed in New Zealand.

“I am very proud that an innovative business such as PrintLounge has invested in the Durst Tau 340 RSC E LED. This is a company that has always tried to push the boundaries of what was considered the norm. They have always tailored their business to focus on what their customers need and this a testament to their continued success and growth in a very competitive market.”