Labels UK upgrades to AccurioLabel 230 and Responds to growth in demand with faster Konica Minolta press
Manchester-Based Labels UK Ltd first became a serious contender in industrial digital label printing when it installed a Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C71cf in the summer of 2019. Complemented by faster finishing, the investment quickly accelerated the business. Just 15 months later, the growing company has upgraded its digital print capability to the latest model, the AccurioLabel 230 press, as it cements the relationship with Konica Minolta.
Moving from a tabletop digital inkjet device to the first-generation Konica Minolta toner-based label press, the bizhub PRESS C71cf, marked the start of a considerable investment programme at Labels UK. “The C71cf opened up new markets for us in terms of the type of jobs we could do, and it turned our focus to sectors that require shorter runs that only digital can satisfy,” he added. “Since then, we have moved a fair number of jobs over from flexo to digital and even taken on several trade customers, who now come to us for their digital labels.”
The AccurioLabel 230, or AL230 for short, was first introduced to the market at Labelexpo Europe in September 2019. As the third-generation label press from Konica Minolta, it brought significant improvements in productivity, flexibility and stability with higher speed, two web width options, new overprinting facility, no warm-up needed and more accurate media handling. For Labels UK, investing in the AL230 was a natural progression and a decisive response to a demanding label market where those who can provide fast turnaround and just-in-time delivery of high-quality jobs succeed. “Our order book is full of jobs that can only be done on a digital press because customers want them printed yesterday,” explained David. “These are small or medium run length jobs or jobs with many sorts, and we were working flat out, so we needed to add higher speed into the equation.
The whole installation process was impressively quick, The Konica team simply swapped the presses and trained the operator. We were back up and running in just three days, which is great as we really couldn’t have afforded any significant downtime.
Steve Dobson
Managing Director Labels UK