Gallus recently presented its views on industrial manufacturing in the label print sector to international converters in a series of one-day seminars at its headquarters. Using its latest RCS 330 and an TCS 250 offset presses “to illustrate the way forward”, the company examined the current market for label production, assessed the pressure being exerted on converters, and offered suggestions of how to survive and make profit.
Delegates were invited to evaluate the current state of the market, look at what Gallus calls TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), and assess the outlook for the industry. In today’s label market, the main drivers are the brand owners and retailers, both of which continue to globalize, rationalize, and apply price pressure. Nowhere is the pressure felt more keenly than at the converter, who is also being squeezed by the material suppliers. To survive, Gallus recommends each converter to take a close look at the TCO of its own operation. This is made up of fixed costs, such as floorspace, machinery, personnel, and quality management, as well variable costs like materials, tools energy, set-up and waste.
The secret to maintaining a low TCO, the company says, is balancing material and production costs with risk. By keeping material consumption to a minimum, and production times short, a modern flexible production platform (such as a Gallus press) maximizes opportunity. With run lengths shortening and repeat jobs increasing, computer control of the machine and instant recall of settings are essential. The risk element is managed most effectively by a planned programme of training, service maintenance modules, remote support, and a close working partnership between machine manufacturer and converter that allows development of new techniques and products.
Gallus’ twin pronged approach to narrow web offset process was then cited as a prime example of standardization in today’s label printing market. The TCS 250, a semi rotary press, and the RCS 330, a fully servo driven line, are the manufacturer’s response to demand for equipment that meets a global print quality standard that can be quantified, and is suited to vignettes and textured papers, as well as offering low prepress costs. Both presses are said to offer a high degree of production flexibility that includes offset and screen printing, (and flexo and gravure on the RCS), varnishing, hot foiling (and cold foiling on the RCS), and embossing. Both feature a high degree of automation for repeatable print quality and waste minimization, and Gallus believes they represent “the only practical realization of industrial manufacturing available in narrow web today”.
The seminar then moved on to practical demonstrations of the technology available to label converters looking to maximize their operational efficiency. These included digital workflow in prepress from data presentation to CTP by Luescher and Artworks, CIP3 automatic ink zone presetting on the RCS 330 by eltromat, and plate processing by OFS.
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