Label & Printing Solutions invests in Mark Andy press

Phoenix-based Label & Printing Solutions, the US arm of Etiquetas e Impresiones de México and a longtime user of Mark Andy flexo technology, has invested in a 20in 11-color Performance Series P7 press to handle its pressure-sensitive label work.

Established in 1997 to supply labels to a fruit juice manufacturer in Hermosillo, Mexico, the company has used a variety of Mark Andy flexo presses over the years, from 830, to Scout and 2200 models up to Performance Series P5 and P7. Currently, the company has nine Mark Andy presses in daily use, eight in Mexico and the latest 11-color P7 in Phoenix. 

Ricardo Stone, who co-founded the company and acts as general manager, said: 'We have always looked to pioneer new products and new methods of production. We were the first Mark Andy user to adopt LED-UV back in 2013 on one of their P5 presses. With ambient temperatures on the production floor in the Sonoran desert region of Mexico often more than 120 deg F (50 deg C), any reduction in heat generation was welcome – and the fact that LED is more energy efficient and therefore cheaper overall was an added benefit.'

In the early 2000s, Stone turned to filmic materials with the addition of chill drums on his then-new presses. Today, around 20 percent of his label output is film, but 35 percent of his total business is packaging produced with PET and BOPP, and it’s this side that is growing fastest. 

'We laminate PE and BOPP in house to produce pouches. In Mexico, we do it offline but have perfected a technique here with solvent-less adhesives to laminate online on the Mark Andy P7 – it’s tricky and requires accurate control of a counter-rotating anilox, but it works well and allows us to start and stop without having to clean up the machine,' Stone said.

'We’re not interested in mega-run work – typically, our customers ask for 10,000-15,000 pouches, not 1 million, and narrow to mid web makes the most sense for this type of work,' Stone said. 'Chasing volume does not fit well with our ethos of service and quality – price alone means a race to the bottom, and since we’re seeing a 12 percent year-on-year growth, I’d say we’ve got it right.'  

The 43,000sq ft (4,000 sqm) plant in Phoenix, which Stone is looking to extend by another 8,600 sq ft (800 sqm), employs 12 people on single shift operation at present, with another 70 people employed at the plant in Mexico. 

'We’d like to add a second shift here but recruiting good skilled staff is becoming ever more difficult,' Stone said.

The Phoenix plant mostly serves food and beverage customers in the south and western states of the US like Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and California, where annual sales top 10m USD. 

Mark Andy sales manager LATAM John Vigna said: 'It’s always an honor to support a longstanding customer like Ricardo, especially with his pioneering spirit that allows him to make such creative use of Mark Andy technology to grow his business. I’m looking forward to introducing him to the raft of new developments that we exhibited at the recent Labelexpo in Chicago, which I’m sure can feature in his future plans.'