By DPS Magazine Staff
Digital label printing presents many opportunities, including more cost-effective short runs and variability, as well as the ability to add markings to enable easier tracking and tracing of labels.
Penmar Industries is a digital label and packaging provider. The business is the culmination of a partnership between James Penders and Phillip Marchese that started in 1964 in NY. The duo took their separate experiences as sales executives in the packaging industry and turned it into a vision of growth and value for their strong customer base. By joining forces, they were in an excellent position to serve their range of customers in the packaging industry across the Northeast. In 1967, the company moved to CT, where they remain today, operating a complete, modern in-house flexographic label printing plant.
The label and package provider utilizes a range of label printing technology. It primarily targets industries in craft beer, wine and spirits, food and beverage, and promotions. It is able to offer serialization, cold foil, and access to multiple substrates and overlaminate materials.
Solving A challenge
In addition to actual imagery and content displayed on the front of a label, Penmar Industries also marks the back liner for label materials. The surface of the liner proved difficult to mark.
“Finding a suitable ink that would work was a hurdle because we’re printing the back liner for label material that can either be polyester or polyethylene, which can be a tricky substrate to mark,” shares Rick Cipot, operations/GM, Penmar Industries.
The company went to work looking for a solution and tested two coding and marketing devices. These unfortunately failed for several reasons, including poor performance quality, speed capacity, costly maintenance issues, and inferior inks.
“It was apparent we weren’t a priority. While visiting another label converter we partner with, I saw they had a working solution that appeared to be just what we needed. I asked how they were doing it, and the answer was REA JET. That began a relationship that has been painless from day one,” notes Cipot.
According to Jim Schindler, regional account manager, REA JET, what Penmar Industries needed was a very low solvent, heavy pigment ink with a wet out evaporation time of milliseconds. “We fine-tuned the printhead to spray just the right amount of ink, and that’s definitely something that’s not off-the-shelf with our competitors.”
After multiple on-site visits and running some initial sample tests, it was determined that the best course of action would be to implement REA JET’s High Resolution inkjet technology (REA JET HR). Penmar Industries was impressed with the flexibility of the equipment, the ease of use, and its little maintenance requirements.
Further, the machine uses a cartridge as the printhead, making it easy to swap out when needed. This is a game change for the label and packaging provider.
“We have never experienced any downtime on this machine and it runs every single day. The REA JET interface is very straightforward, making it easy for employees to learn and to operate,” offers Cipot.
New Business
In addition to solving an existing business challenge, Penmar Industries was happy to find out that with the REA JET HR, it is able to attract new business. This is because the tracking and traceability of products continues to become more critical in manufacturing, making it crucial that labels be printed with clear, legible data.
Penmar Industries is so pleased with the performance of their REA JET technology and inks they are planning an extensive expansion of their capabilities, including a new digital department.
In addition to their conventional label printing on flexographic presses, the new digital department enables Penmar Industries to serve a broader array of clients across more industries.
“Our new digital press has been built to our specifications. It’s not something off the shelf. Before we even started discussing building the press, I wanted to ensure that we could incorporate REA JET technology into our label finishing process. We’re putting four print heads on the unit, and it will be seamless,” states Cipot.
The Right Match
Finding the right match in terms of technology, but also customer service is essential in modern business. Luckily, with REA JET Penmar industries met its match, in the most positive way possible.
Jan2023, DPS Magazine
