Cupsz chooses Mark Andy Evolution Series E5

In 2014, brothers Daan and Michiel Willemsz turned their passion for coffee cups into a profession, and thus the story of Cupsz began. Over the years, the company has designed and produced countless coffee cups for customers in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France, all from its headquarters in Tilburg, the Netherlands. To further its commitment to innovation, Cupsz has recently expanded its range to include cardboard disposable containers, known as Bowlsz.

Initially, the company outsourced its print, die cutting and forming production. However, by 2016, the company realized the need to become self-sufficient and took on an ambitious plan. In 2019, it secured a 2,000sqm unit on the same industrial park in Tilburg.

As Michiel Willemsz said: 'It was ten times the size we needed for our staff of six. No sooner had we moved in than the pandemic hit, and the business world looked likely to collapse and take us with it.'

As 2020 wore on, demand for Cupsz’s high-quality short to medium runs began to accelerate. Despite a slowdown earlier in the year, its business model, which focused on delivering orders quickly, proved to be an asset. It was typical in this market to see wait times of five to six weeks for cups to arrive from Asia. However, Cupsz aimed to cut this down to two or three days, and in urgent situations, they could deliver within 24 hours, the only European manufacturer capable of such short delivery times.

As the outsourced printing had partly been produced on a toner based digital press, Cupsz invested in two for the new building and have since built up to a total of seven cup-forming machines. 'The basic principle here is standardization. We produce only five cup sizes, which allows us to dedicate a machine to each size,' Michiel added.

The company believed that digital printing's relatively slow web speed would always be a limiting factor for its business. While runs up to 25,000 cups were feasible to print digitally, larger orders posed problems. Costs became more of an issue at larger volumes. Although Covid initially hurt demand, it also changed attitudes towards cleanliness. Single-use disposable paper cups became preferred over China and ceramic, which needed washing between uses.

By the end of that difficult year, sales had returned to 2019 levels, albeit with lower margins. Nonetheless, the company had survived and was in a good position to expand. In 2021, the company celebrated record months. Despite that success, the brothers were aware that unless they could increase production speeds - they were heading for trouble.

In the past, Cupsz had only ever worked with narrow web flexo technology that utilized UV inks and lacquers. However, in their bid to stay ahead and comply with ever-evolving food packaging laws, they were eager to switch to water-based technology. The problem was the lack of commercial experience with narrow web presses in Europe.

Mark Andy arranged a full working demonstration of water-based inks in action. Cupsz placed an order for a Mark Andy Evolution Series E5 soon after.

'What impressed us most was the depth of knowledge and know-how at Mark Andy,’ said Daan Willemsz. ‘Their water-based presses are not adapted UV lines like the other manufacturers, and this really showed up in the confidence the operators had in changing jobs in five minutes with only 50m of waste. We don’t feel we’ve just bought a press but acquired a partner with useful knowledge to assist us to grow our business.’ 

The new Mark Andy was installed and commissioned in January 2023. Maarten van Bergeijk of Packtion, Mark Andy’s agent in the Benelux, commented: 'It’s a 430mm (17in”) six-color Evolution Series E5 with full servo drive, a Vetaphone corona treater and a web cleaner. The six print stations have independent airflow balancing and heating controls and a recirculating dryer base system and the anilox drive features Oldham couplings and bearings for smooth and accurate operation. It’s capable of 230m/min (750ft/min) and is fitted with remote diagnostics and both auto and pre-register, as well as a BST vision system. There is a servo driven sheeter head and waste windup capable of handling an 810mm reel (32in). As part of the Mark Andy package, we also installed a VPM 400 video plate mounter to ensure accuracy.'

The Evolution Series E5 has a compact footprint for a press that offers good working space for the operator.

'We like the level of automation it has because that makes it easy to set up and run and maintains good quality register – but there is nothing over-complex about it – what’s there is for the benefit of the person who is running it, and not a demonstration of how much technology can be added for the sake of it,' said Michiel.

The new Mark Andy will be running typically 350 to 460-micron board at around 120m/min, making it significantly more productive than the digital presses at Cupsz. 'It’s a very stable press, which is essential when you’re running heavier materials, and shows Mark Andy’s experience with carton board presses. We can’t wait to see how it performs in everyday commercial production,' he concluded.