The agenda of both webinars considered the most possible dose of Mark Andy’s knowledge about technologies, presses from the company’s offer as well as market trends and job opportunities in label printing business area. On the other hand, the company presented its customer’s point of view. They talked about benefits from using Mark Andy solutions. Tadeusz Kozinski – Director of Etiko printing house from Szczecin (Poland) was a guest of the Polish session. Kirwan Waters – Director of Watershed Group (consisting of five European printing houses, incl. Etiko) presented his views during the international session.
Mark Andy and its Offer for the Label Market
The participants of both webinars were welcomed by
Lena Chmielewska-Bontron, European Marketing Manager Mark Andy. She underlined
that, even during the current pandemic, another webinars devoted for students
prove company’s commitment to keeping in touch with younger generations and
providing them with knowledge. The events were moderated by Lukasz Chruslinski,
Sales Manager Mark Andy Poland (the Polish session) and Phil Baldwin, European
Sales Manager Mark Andy UK (the English webinar). During the Polish session
they were supported by Lukasz Kaczynski – Warsaw Demo Room Manager, Grzegorz
Rostkowski and Michal Mokrzycki – print specialists. During the international
session James Mayenschein and Kevin Glatz – the representatives of St. Louis
showroom were involved, too.
Lukasz Chruslinski and Phil Baldwin presented Mark Andy, including its history. They underlined that the company, established in 1946, is one of the oldest and the biggest manufacturers of narrow-web flexo and digital presses devoted for label production. Mark Andy’s portfolio, including printing presses as well as finishing equipment and consumables, was presented shortly. Nowadays the company has approx. 8500 pressed installed worldwide, including finishing equipment this number exceeds dozen thousands. It hires approx. 400 people worldwide, incl. 80 engineers. As both speakers indicated, Mark Andy presses are built by the company from the basis, guaranteeing high quality and stability of printing production. They added that having highly skilled engineering team allows the company for realizing individual orders from customers and fitting them to their current needs.
Mark Andy operates from three main locations: in the US, the UK and Poland. It also has many divisions in other countries worldwide. Its printing presses are based on main printing technologies used in label production: flexo, hybrid (inkjet + flexo, toner + flexo) and rotary screen. Currently Mark Andy offers two series of flexo presses: Evolution Series E3/E5 and Performance Series, both devoted to manufacturing longer runs of labels (incl. food and hazardous products), wrap-ups, cups, shrink sleeve, self-adhesive ones and many more. As the speakers indicated, modern label printers expect quick press set-up and job changeover, press’ functionality enabling economic production in smaller runs (including versioning and VDP) as well as substrate savings. Press manufacturers try to meet these expectations by designing even better machines allowing for this kind of production on a wider spectrum of substrates, including renewable ones. Mark Andy’s response to the mentioned market needs are Digital Pro and Digital Series iQ hybrid presses, as well as Digital Series HD, its flagship hybrid/digital model. The company underlines that each of them is devoted to different type of production: toner-based model handle jobs up to 400 meters, inkjet UV presses are fit for 2500-3000 m runs.
Digital Pro model was also highlighted during presentations. It was designed by Mark Andy as the company’s response to changing demands and needs of printing services market, including label-related one. It concerns many current market trends: decreasing runs, higher expectations of customers in terms of shorter delivery times and production diversity. Digital Pro is devoted to companies just starting its printing-related activities.
Market Trends in the Label Printing Industry
Lukasz Chruslinski and Phil Baldwin presented the
current market situation, which – despite a global pandemic – is positive for
label producers and converters. Partly basing on information from FINAT – the
European association for the self-adhesive label industry, they also presented
dominating trends on the label production market. They talked about future
directions of printing houses as well as their purchasing plans, e.g.
considering digital presses, additional equipment and finishing devices.
According to Mark Andy’s experts, the whole label industry is developing very
well as many brand owners are declare increasing label procurement. As they
underlined, currently the market is dominated by labels produced for the
following industries: food, pharmacy, beverages and disinfectant gels. Brand
owners order more and more label stock including new decorations and finishing,
QR codes, RFID tags and shrink sleeve.
Live Demos from Mark Andy Showrooms
The students of both webinars were deeply
interested in demonstrations of presses installed at two Mark Andy’s showrooms
– in Poland and the US. The Polish session was focused on Digital Series HD – a
flagship model among hybrid/digital part of the company’s portfolio. It was
used for printing jobs containing variable data with high flexibility, speed
and quality guaranteed by four CMYK inkjet modules and additional flexo and
finishing stations. The first job was a shampoo label, including different
versions, followed by an orange juice label with a gold embellishment. The
participants witnessed a very quick job changeover (it took only several
minutes), which is significant in terms of shorter runs, different label
versions etc.
The Warsaw-based demo center is also equipped with Digital Pro 3 and Evolution Series E3 presses. Annually it runs more than 120 presentations and handles current and possible customers of Mark Andy from various continents. The overseas customers are handled by the US-based showroom in St. Louis (Missouri), equipped in Digital Series iQ – the newest member of a digital/hybrid family as well as Performance P7 flexo press.
Watershed and Etiko: Special Guests of the Webinars
Mark Andy invited one of its key customers and a
long-term user of the company’s equipment as a special guest of the webinars
devoted to students. Watershed Group is the Irish-based, family-owned printing
business, with five sites located in Ireland, the UK, Germany and Poland
(Etiko). Tadeusz Kozinski, Director of the latter one, was the special guest of
the Polish session. He presented the beginnings of the Szczecin-based printing
house, its development, entering the Watershed Group as well as current
situation and plans for future. He mentioned about long and close business
relationship between Mark Andy and Etiko. During all these years the printer
has invested in more than a dozen of Mark Andy printing presses. Currently its
equipment set is based on five Mark Andy flexo presses and two
slitter-rewinders from Rotoflex (the company owned by Mark Andy). Tadeusz
Kozinski answered many questions from Polish students. They concerned e.g. the
printing site, its offer and customers (Etiko handles mainly companies from
food industry, dairy producers, manufacturers of household and industrial
chemistry as well as cosmetic brands and building-related companies), but also
the label industry, its current situation and future. Staff issues and printing
education were among the topics during the discussion, also concerning a
co-operation between vendors, printers and technical universities or
printing-oriented high schools.
Kirwan Waters, Director of Watershed Group, was the special guest of the international session. He talked about the group’s activities, also in the international scale, underlining it has several European locations which impacts on bigger flexibility in handling customers and service complexity. He mentioned that even in the tough pandemic times the Group has invested strongly. Kirwan Waters added that his company uses numerous Mark Andy solutions in all locations. Recently one of its Irish sites has been equipped with a Digital Series HD model. Kirwan Waters underlined a huge potential and opportunities offered by a hybrid technology, as well as its influence on production flexibility.
Watershed Group focuses on co-operation with customers representing food, FMCG and beverages industries. Kirwan Waters announced further expansion of his company and his goal is clear: making Watershed Group one of the biggest privately-owned printing companies in Europe.
“We’re sure that this kind of meetings give
students a great opportunity for getting knowledge about printing technologies
and their usage in different types of production and final assortment.
Moreover, they learn about a current market situation and the trends. Hopefully
all of this will inspire them in choosing printing industry when considering
future occupation. For many years Mark Andy has been committed to sharing our
experiences and knowledge with the youngest generation of future printers. On
the other hand, we wish to encourage other manufacturers and printing companies
to build closer relations with students and teachers. Together we can upgrade
skills of the future employees of our companies; what we have to do is to show
the right way and enable access to specific tools. We wish to thank all the
webinars’ guests and participants and we are extremely happy about their
interest in Mark Andy’s online events” – Lena Chmielewska-Bontron concludes.
