Mirmar installs second Mark Andy DSHD hybrid

A successful year with its first Digital Series HD has persuaded Spanish label converter Mirmar SA to add a second from Mark Andy to extend production flexibility and free-up capacity on its flexo presses.

Family owned and managed Mirmar, a long-term Mark Andy user, was quick to spot the benefits of a hybrid press and installed its first 430mm Digital Series HD in 2023.  With six high-spec Mark Andy Performance Series flexo presses in-house at its headquarters in Valencia, company CEO Jaime Mir Pastor looked for the best way of diversifying his production capability.

“Our Mark Andy flexo presses are very efficient and quick to make-ready, but in today’s market of declining run lengths and increased numbers of SKUs, we needed to find a better solution for our short to medium run work.  The concept of single-pass production appealed more than digital printing with offline converting, and the compatibility of the DSHD with our existing equipment, and the familiarity of the flexo units to our operators made the decision to commit to the Mark Andy press quite straightforward,” Mir Pastor says.

Similar in specification to the first DSHD at Mirmar, the second press has a seven-color UV inkjet engine (CMYK + OVW) with two flexo stations either side for spot color, cold foil or lacquer, and is fitted with web turn bars for delam/relam and a web translator (Gizmo) to allow for peel and reseal work. Capable of a 1200 dpi print resolution at 73m/min, the DSHD is ideal for the growing volume of short run work at Mirmar.

“The first DSHD handled 35% of our jobs in its first year, and that figure has risen to 50% with the two in full production.  Although this accounts for less than 20% of our total volume, it frees-up significant capacity of our flexo presses that we need for longer run work and makes us significantly more competitive price-wise for our customers,” he adds. 

With make ready times reduced on the hybrid presses to 20 minutes or less, Mirmar says it can now process more than twice as many jobs per hour than it could with only flexo capability, and the two Mark Andy hybrids deliver around 5 million linear metres of labels each year, with capacity to spare.

The key to maximizing performance on the hybrid is the quality of pre-press as there is little room for adjustment on the digital engine itself.  When an all-flexo house, Mirmar outsourced its pre-press – now it employs two full-time people in-house and they are kept busy.  “The growth of our digital capability fits well with the ongoing issue of finding skilled flexo press operators.  This is why we have always run our own training courses in-house, and enjoy good retention of staff because we operate a two-shift pattern, but only five days per week, so our staff enjoy a good work/life balance,” he said

He also added that the training and after-sales commitment of Mark Andy was so good that both presses were in full commercial production less than one week after installation.  “If you are investing in new technology that requires a rethink of your business model you need good close support, and I’m grateful to the whole Mark Andy team for the guidance it gave and continues to give – we have always enjoyed a close working partnership, and it has brought success to both companies.”

Currently serving a cross-section of markets from food to home care, Mirmar is seeing real growth in its home care and cosmetics business thanks to the capability of the DSHD hybrids.  “Home care often needs a high number of SKUs per job, and cosmetics demand high-quality print – both of which are perfect for the DSHD presses.  Digital printing allows us to make minor changes easily and quickly for home care products, and the inkjet white has a very high opacity like screen ink white, which has attracted significant interest from the cosmetics sector.” 

Future growth at Mirmar will include linerless label production, and the investment plan includes further automation to increase production efficiency and offset the growing problem of skill shortage across the industry.

Speaking for Mark Andy, Sales Manager Josep Balcells stated: “We have enjoyed a very long and close relationship with Mirmar that has been built on trust.  This has benefitted both parties and will become even more essential going forward as price pressure and shorter delivery times demand more productivity from increasingly complex technology.  We look forward to continuing our success together with Jaime and his sister María Mir Pastor and the whole Mirmar team.”​​​