Mark Andy, a total solutions provider in the narrow and mid-web printing and finishing industries, welcomed customers to an Open House at its facility in St. Louis, MO, USA. The event took place on March 3 and focused on the company’s expanded capabilities in digital printing.

The Open House coincided with Mark Andy’s 70th anniversary, and the company’s headquarters features one of the first tape presses built by Mark Andrews, Sr. in his Kirkwood, MO-basement. Mark Andy also provided demonstrations of the popular Performance Series Press, which has seen over 550 worldwide installations.

“This year marks a special anniversary for us, so we’re very excited about it,” said Steve Schulte, vice president of sales and marketing, Mark Andy. “We want people to see how we’re positioning Mark Andy for the next 70 years. Our vision is to be supplier of choice throughout the product life cycle, offering high-quality, innovative solutions that drive customer profitability. That’s what we live by; it’s about making our customers profitable.”

Mark Andy, industry experts, and converters attended the Open House to explain how the Digital Series Press fits into the company’s line of flexographic equipment, as well as the changing landscape of EP and inkjet digital printing. The presentations were supplemented with a tour of the Mark Andy Label Factory, featuring construction and warehousing of Mark Andy and Rotoflex equipment.

According to Kevin Wilken, president and CEO, Mark Andy, the company’s digital endeavors did not begin overnight. Mark Andy launched its digital platform 12 years ago with the DT2200. After enduring multiple peaks and valleys with the platform, the company felt it was in a place to go “all in on digital” three years ago.

“The DT2200 wasn’t a success from an internal perspective, and we didn’t generate the business that we would like to see,” Wilken said. “It wasn’t a success for a lot of reasons, but it taught us what it takes to be successful with digital. You have to have a cost-effective system with excellent image quality, and we learned a lot through that process. As we go forward, those lessons really ring true in a lot of different things that are going on in the market place today.”

With key partnerships in place, Mark Andy is now able to offer the speed and image quality necessary to compete in the digital market. The Digital Series runs up to 250 fpm (76 m/m) in CMYK and between 150 and 170 fpm when opaque white is added. The hybrid system can handle 13.25” web widths, as well as various substrates like pressure sensitive papers and films, unsupported papers, tag stocks and light cartons.

“We hired the best and brightest, started a facility, and spent millions and millions of dollars trying to develop what we feel is the best true production system for digital on the market,” Wilken added. “We own the technology components, and we support all of the technology components. Besides that, we’ve got a best-in-class product that has by far best-in-class speed and that’s flexible. It’s not something you have to shape your business to in order to produce digital labels; it’s exactly a flexo workflow. You can do exactly the same thing and you can take out five print stations and put a digital workflow and you don’t have five plates. It’s that simple.”

“Digital is changing and getting faster and faster every day,” explained Schulte. “The technology continues to get better, and the way we design this is when technology changes and we come out with better solutions, we take out the old, put the new in, and you keep everything else. Why throw the whole machine away every three years, and why get a new machine? That’s been our philosophy, and it really reduces capital costs.”

As part of the company’s goal to become a total solutions supplier, Mark Andy has invested in digital printing and converting, finishing, consumables, and Mark Andy University. Its philosophy includes everything from consultancy and implementation, all the way through to customer support. According to Schulte, everything is manufactured in St. Louis, and the company also has a digital technology center in San Diego, CA, and recently opened a technology center in Poland.

“Mark Andy University features anything from operator training and maintenance training, whether it is internal or external training,” said Schulte. “We’ve had some great success there.”

Schulte explained how the company takes pride in its ability to provide global customer support. He said that 98% of the OEM parts that are shipped out reach their destination on-time, and the company has over 200,000 unique parts available in its inventory. Mark Andy also offers trade-ins, rebuilds and retrofits as part of its support system. Mark Andy also set up a Customer Advisory Board, featuring industry experts from small to large converters. The brainstorming sessions allowed the manufacturer to gauge the market and see what customers wanted to see in the marketplace.

Ryan Reding, general manager at WS Packaging Group, and Mark Hanley, president of I.T. Strategies, also delivered testimonials for the Digital Series. WS Packaging has served as a beta testing site for the digital press.