EFI has announced that Allegra South Burnaby has installed an EFI Jetrion 4950LX LED inkjet label press with an EFI Fiery digital front end (DFE). The full-service Allegra Network franchise location in South Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, will use the fully integrated, complete Jetrion digital system to expand into the digital label market with what it touts as "a cost-effective, high-productivity, and efficient production solution."

Allegra’s new 13-inch wide digital label production line is the first of its kind installed in Canada and the first in the Allegra Network. With it, owners Binny and Harpreet Mroke say they will take advantage of the opportunity offered by the growing market for short-run digital label printing.

“We were getting calls from clients in various businesses including food manufacturers asking for labels, which we had no option but to outsource. Not satisfied with the quality, we began to research how these companies were sourcing their labels and recognized that there was a huge opportunity to provide high quality labels in shorter runs to the local market,” says Binny Mroke.

“The label market is growing fast,” she continues. “We saw the opportunity to offer a superior product, from end to end, with a very fast turnaround. The Jetrion 4950LX is the best of the best and we can’t wait to be able to provide our clients with a seamless solution to their label requirements.”

The company has used Fiery DFEs to drive its Xerox cut-sheet digital presses for several years. The staff’s comfort level with and appreciation for Fiery technology gave the Mrokes even more confidence in EFI’s ability to deliver a reliable and productive integrated digital label system.

Allegra South Burnaby’s Harpreet Mroke says, “Fiery DFEs are best of breed, and EFI developed the Jetrion 4950LX in the same vein as a top-of-the-line device for the digital label industry.

“When you buy a piece of equipment like this you are not just buying equipment, you are actually partnering with that company,” he adds. “It was very important that we partner with a company that is going to have our back. Plus, EFI has local technicians, so from a service and support point of view, it is also best of breed. We covered every base in our decision to partner with EFI.”

When evaluating the technology, the couple discovered they could pay for the Jetrion press just with the business their existing connections would bring in. But they want to expand beyond the local market, so they turned to Y5 Creative, a local branding and web design agency, who are in the process of developing a software program that will enable all Allegra locations to use the press.

“The Allegra Network will market and promote the service to all the franchise locations, and we’re already getting some very positive feedback from several locations,” says Jonathan Colley, director of Business Development at Y5 Creative. The software, to be marketed as Allegra AllLabels, will have the added functionality of a digital asset management component that will enable print-shop clients to manage all image files for labels and packaging. Allegra franchises will be able to link directly to the Jetrion press, giving them the ability to market it and the label products it produces to their clients as their own “virtual” machine without the hardware investment.

The new press, which was installed in April, is a fully loaded four-color plus white model with inline laser diecutting, varnish and lamination, configurable slitting with up to 16 blades, back-scoring and dual-spindle, semiautomatic turret rewinding. Its integrated finishing features can take jobs from file to finished roll without interruptions, increasing efficiency, delivering the lowest cost per label, and boosting profitability. The press’s “cool cure” LED inkjet technology makes it compatible with a wide range of substrates, including paper, films, foil, tag, specialty, and heat-sensitive films.