Daymark Labels moves into digital print with Mark Andy DPro – and adds flexo capacity with an Evolution Series E5

Leading West Midlands based narrow web converter, Daymark Labels, is the latest company to instal a Mark Andy Digital Pro 3 press at its production facility in Hartlebury, Worcestershire, and according to General Manager, Kevan Palmer, it has made a fundamental difference to job throughput. “I can’t believe how we coped without it,” he commented, adding “on one of our regular jobs it’s shortened production time from three days to one shift!”

The Digital Pro is a second-generation Mark Andy hybrid that combines a toner-based digital engine for 1200dpi CMYK with a press platform that offers flexo printing before and after the digital module, laminating, cold foiling, rotary or semi-rotary die-cutting, slitting and rewinding, or sheeting and stacking, all in one pass. Not surprisingly, this versatile and modular press is viewed as an all-round production tool with an inbuilt future-proof configurability.

Capable of printing on a variety of stocks, from tags to pressure-sensitive and Tyvek materials, typically self-adhesive stocks, porous and wine label substrates, PET, and PP, without any need for primer, Digital Pro has a production speed of 23.4m/min (77ft/min) and requires no cleanroom environment nor involves any ‘click charge’. It features a simple to use RIP that allows any existing pdf to be printed at the touch of a button, and its small footprint and onboard compressor for its air-cooled LED-UV curing system, make for a ‘plug-in and go’ installation.

For a company like Daymark, which prides itself on serving top quality print to some of the more testing niche markets, the two new Mark Andy presses, Digital Pro and Evolution Series E5, fit their production requirements perfectly. The Evolution Series E5 features the latest Mark Andy servo platform for entry-level flexo. It has 330mm (13”) web width, eight flexo print units, and is the first to be installed in the UK fitted with GEW’s LeoLED/UV curing technology. Specification also includes a web cleaner, overhead rail with turn bar unit, delam/relam, double die stations and a sheeter/conveyor.

Described by Kevan Palmer as ‘the perfect operator’s press’ for its ease of set-up and production, he says its print quality and speed have both exceeded expectations, and significantly, allowed Daymark to bring outwork back in-house with improved customer service.

Founded by Jon Bird Snr in 1974, and now run jointly with son Jon Jnr, Daymark Labels began by specialising in short run work including foil-stamping 1000 labels at a time. The company moved into flexo in the 1980s and later into letterpress with three 340mm presses that are still producing good quality work. In fact, the semi-rotary die station on the new DPro was familiar to Daymark from its letterpress lines.

“We’d been looking at the digital technology on the market for some time, trying to work out the best solution for our customers’ specific requirements,” said Jon Bird, “and then Covid hit, and plans were shelved until such time as we could see how things settled.” Knowing that the company needed