Gill Loubser: With many decades’ combined experience, your family has become known as a leading supplier of a broad array of equipment and services to narrow-web printers and converters. You must be excited to record these first two sales of Truepress JetL350UV digital label presses? What were the main factors in your customers’ decisions to purchase this particular digital press?
Pascal Aengenvoort: This high-quality, ultra-reliable digital label press delivers flexibility, low cost of ownership and a swift return on investment, printing at anything from 16 to 50m2/min on a 350mm web. Our customers are particularly impressed with Screen’s high-definition CMYK+W UV inks and advanced colour management technology that allow production of a wide-gamut of vibrant colours and smooth tones at high resolution.
GL: How does this agency fit in with the other products that you represent locally?
PA: The Truepress Jet adds digital label printing to the Rotocon suite of products – MPS, RotoControl, AVT, Wink and Pantec. These products are entirely complementary for our particular customer base and, as with our other lines, we’ll provide full technical support for the new press.
GL: The digital press market has become very competitive. What does Screen offer that sets its presses apart from competitors?
PA: Compared to other competitive drop-on-demand inkjet print samples, we see gradients that are smooth; solids that are dense and free of pinholes and streaks. Most digitally-printed samples from the Truepress Jet L350UV are virtually indistinguishable from their analogue counterparts.
GL: What advantages will you customers achieve from their investments?
PA: Certainly, these two label printing companies will enjoy improved margins and higher customer satisfaction. Their press operators will be excited to learn new technology and their prepress departments will appreciate being able to print existing customer files with minimal retouching. In addition, their sales team will be excited about the opportunity to sell new print products!
GL: Do you see a big market for digital label presses in southern Africa?
PA: Yes, there’s strong demand for high-productivity digital label printing technology in southern Africa. While larger label printers with corporate contracts might take weeks to deliver labels, many brand owners are now demanding delivery of anything from 5 000 to 50 000 labels on a same-day or next-day basis. It has become increasingly difficult to keep up with demand using traditional flexo presses, even with a digital workflow and using ‘pit stop’ changeovers. Screen is well-respected for the quality of its engineering and we’re very pleased to add this superb digital press to our portfolio. We anticipate many more sales in the months and years ahead.
GL: How would you describe Screen’s relationship with Rotocon?
PA: Brian Filler, CEO of Screen Europe, is happy to report that Rotocon is an excellent company to work with and provided this message: ‘Rotocon knows the label market inside and out and, because of the close relationship with printers in the sector, react quickly to their needs. That’s why Rotocon is successful with the Truepress Jet L350UV. It’s a press that ticks all the boxes for companies wishing to invest in industrial-level digital technology.’
[Ed’s note: One of the new presses has already been installed and is up and running. As we go to press, we learn that Rotocon has signed a second deal. We anticipate being able to name the companies concerned in the next edition of PPM!]
