Mark Andy is reporting record turnout and a press sale after the latest stop on its Digital One Roadshow series. From February 20-21, the Digital One was demonstrated for Charlotte-area converters and was the 14th iteration of the event since its conception in 2016.

Mark Andy partnered with the Print Science department at Central Piedmont Community College to host the two-day event. In turn, students were given time to learn about the CMYK toner press, Mark Andy Inc., and the digital printing market. Many were new to the hybrid process, and the hands-on demonstration with Digital One provided invaluable education opportunity.

Teresa Piepmeier, a student in the program had the following to say about her experience: “I was so excited to have an up close and personal experience with the Digital One. It means a lot to me that a huge company is willing to come to visit with us as students and to see the industry really cares about us and what we’re doing after graduation. My experience has been fully flexographic, but to see the merge between digital and flexo totally makes sense. It’s the best of both worlds that a product can be printed so easily and efficiently. I just really appreciate that Mark Andy came in and took several opportunities to show my class the future of print.”

Building on Piepmeier’s commentary, the Mark Andy Digital One offers the following features: a small footprint, easy to use, and affordable hybrid digital-flexo label press. Unlike tabletop solutions, the Digital One includes all elements to produce a finished label in a standalone piece of equipment.

Attending the event was Justin Green, product manager- Workflow & Business Analytics, Mark Andy. Green is a proud alumnus of Central Piedmont Community College and also served as Mark Andy's former digital sales manager for the East Coast. Given his transition to a product leadership role within Mark Andy’s Front End Solution team, the manufacturer used the Charlotte Roadshow as an opportunity to also introduce partners to Alexander Mercon.

As digital sales manager, Mercon supports the East Coast and comes to Mark Andy with over 15 years of experience in the packaging industry, 11 dedicated to digital. Mercon shares, “Mark Andy is a true label and packaging company with a long legacy of high-quality solutions. The entire suite of hybrid technologies from Digital Series to Digital One gave me multiple reasons to promote Mark Andy. Digital is revolutionizing and Mark Andy, bar none, is the best solution as partner and technology.”

The printing department at Central Piedmont Community College has been in operation for 56 years, with over 45 students completing the program and entering the industry workforce or continuing onto further schooling in the realm of print. Eleven student jobs were versioned on the press on a white BOPP and utilized four color digital process to print. In addition to student art, Mark Andy printed a short run job that made use of inline cast and cure embellishment and diecutting at 62 fpm.

The cherry on top for the event was the Digital One demo unit being sold to a local converter in attendance, going directly to their Charlotte-area shop for install. “Mark Andy started these events in 2016 as a launch plan for Digital One and received such positive feedback we never really stopped. Small business owners have a hard time stepping away for a few days to see a demo and we find bringing these technologies to their region helps cut the hassle associated with investigating digital. It’s a small convenience, with major impact,” concludes Mercon.