Soabar leverages history to promote change

UK-based Soabar Labels has undergone huge changes from
a dedicated global supplier of apparel labeling machines to
the cutting edge of prime label digital technology.

Business manager Rob Lee calls this a ‘cultural transformation,’ which has involved the installation of state-of-the-art digital presses in a new, dedicated facility, along with services including pre-press and digital workflow management.

To fully understand the breadth of this transition, a brief look at
the company’s history is in order.

Soabar was founded over 100 years ago in the US as a textile
labeling machine supplier, a market it continued to serve after its acquisition by Avery Dennison. It had offices around the world, including a UK site which opened in the 1970s.

This UK facility was acquired by the Sessions family, and traded as Soabar Sessions until 2008, when a management buyout took place by Phil Achurch and his wife Jo. A year later, production director Robert Gallagher bought into the company and joined the board.

The company then began a major shift to complement apparel
labeling machinery and consumables with prime PS labels, adding flexo equipment including an Edale Beta and Nilpeter FA430.

In 2016-17 the company made its first move into digital printing with the installation of two AccurioLabel 190 toner presses from Konica Minolta – the first machines installed in England.

At this point, half of Soabar’s revenue still came from sales of
thermal transfer and textile desktop printers, as well as accessories and consumables for the wash-care market. Soabar Labels still maintains a field service team which operates across Europe looking after these customers.

Soabar has been able to build on this considerable legacy
business in the apparel industry where the company is an
established and trusted name.

Much of today’s cultural change has been driven by the
installation of a LabelTraxx MIS. Order input, invoicing and job
tracking have been put in place, and the next step will see the
rolling out of the LabelTraxx Siteline portal which allows customers to view their assets, approve artwork and place orders 24/7.

This ties into the Hybrid Pakz workflow suite, which runs all of
Soabar’s pre-press operations including color management.

Digital press investment

The renewal of Soabar’s press room started by replacing the
two Konica Minolta AccurioLabel 190 presses with a single KM AccurioLabel 230.

Comments Robert Gallagher, ‘The AccurioLabel 230 fits very
well with our operational needs, and illustrates exactly why we
needed a combined multi-technology approach.

‘There is also a clear costing structure through the click charge - with no hidden costs - which makes it much easier to price up jobs. This is all delivered in a smaller physical footprint, which has obvious advantages in a production facility with finite space available.’

With a strong suite of VDP software, the AccurioLabel 230 is
primarily used for chemicals and food labeling applications on
everything except thermal and PE-based materials. 

"Soabar has been able to build on
this considerable legacy business
in the apparel industry where the
company is an established and
trusted name"

Complementing the AL 230 is a new 7-color (CMYK + OVW)
Bobst Mouvent UV inkjet press – the first installed in the UK
(Bobst officially refers to this press as the ‘Bobst digital press using Mouvent inkjet cluster technology’).

Comments Gallagher, ‘As we diversify and expand what we can offer, we need the capacity to print a thin CMYKOV ink layer as well as apply a thicker layer of white to create textured or tactile finishes, which are required in the personal care and cosmetics categories. Plus, we also wanted the ability to print directly onto thermal top and PE label stocks.’

Using white ink on metallic substrates allows Soabar to simulate effects like gold, broadening the design possibilities.

The Bobst Mouvent press operates at speeds up to 100m/min, although it typically runs at 70-80m/min with white. This has allowed Soabar to handle longer print runs and move some jobs from flexo. ‘The white compares virtually to Screen,’ says Rob Lee. The Mouvent color engine matches 90 percent of the Pantone book.

Finishing for both digital presses is carried out on ABG Digicons.

Soabar is now consolidating its digital equipment and supporting services into a dedicated digital production unit in a new build adjacent to the existing plant, which will mark the next stage of this historic company’s growth.