An inclination to Port
Portugal’s second city, Oporto, is the heart of the Port wine industry. Gone are the days when Port was a vintage luxury consumed by Oxford professors and retired officers in London clubs. Today this export-oriented industry has annual sales of half a billion dollars, and is marketing itself worldwide as a trendy drink for all seasons.
Labels, of course, are a key part of this promotion, and label converter Vox Artes Graficas claims to have a 90 percent share of the market. Vox aims to turn out quality labels fast, using mainly three HP Indigo digital presses and nine Gallus combination machines. This battery of equipment, along with screen, embossing, and foil stamping machinery, enables Vox to respond rapidly to new orders. (Most local wineries have very limited storage and produce many different qualities.) With an average of nearly 100 orders each day, Vox uses computer-controlled production planning, process control, plus a track-and-trace RFID system to keep tabs on every order.