Digital Domain November 2010

Digital Printing for High-Impact Cosmetic Labels

PALO ALTO, Calif.—An HP Indigo WS6000 digital press installed at Flexo Print SA de CV in Guadalajara, Mexico, is helping the company serve high-profile national and international companies that continuously strive to ensure the quality and image of their brands.

Last year, the company, which operates a variety of flexographic, offset, litho, rotogravure, and digital presses, increased its digital capacity when it replaced one of its HP Indigo ws4500 presses with the seven-color HP Indigo WS6000. The WS6000 model is capable of speeds up to 97 fpm (30 m/min.), a 47 percent increase over the HP Indigo press ws4500. The WS6000 also has a larger image area enabling it to support a wider variety of work.

"The strengths of digital printing are in handling shorter runs, on-demand, and carrying out fast job changeovers," says Fernando Aranguren, Flexo Print's founder and owner. "There are other advantages, like the ability to run a large number of different substrates, and to print jobs that couldn't be run profitably on conventional equipment."

One of Flexo Print's customers that exemplifies the company's successful digital printing business is BioScents, SC de RL de CV, also of Guadalajara. The company produces cosmetics and personal care products that use natural fruits and flowers. BioScents also operates a chain of retail shops that showcase the products and enhance its image by displaying its wide product offering, making product labels a particularly important part of the brand's high impact.

Flexo Print produces BioScents product labels using its digital presses, including the HP Indigo WS6000, using a variety of plastic substrates including PP, PE, PP white, and polycarbonate with matte and gloss finishes, as well as on transparent materials.

"BioScents is the perfect company to enjoy the benefits of digital printing," Aranguren continued. "It has more than 100 products, and orders labels from us every 15 to 20 days in runs of 10,000 to 20,000 labels. This is an ideal situation for digital label printing."

Flexo Print continues to explore new market opportunities. Among the projects under discussion are Web-to-print, digital shrink sleeves, flexible packaging, and variable-data printing—especially for security labels, which Aranguren believes have a big future.

Roland DG, GMG Form Partnership for High-Quality Mockups

TUEBINGEN, Germany and HAMAMATSU, Japan—GMG, a developer and supplier of high-end color management software solutions, and Roland DG Corporation, a worldwide provider of wide-format inkjet printers and printer/cutters, have announced the availability of GMG's printer driver for Roland's UV-LED inkjet printer/cutter, VersaUV LEC-330, which allows the fast creation of high-quality mockups.

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