With a legacy stretching back nearly 70 years, Labelhouse sits the forefront of label industry trends. Now, to cope with the growing demand for digital labels, it is reaching for the skies once more with Australia’s first SMAG Digital Galaxie converting line.
Originally set up in 1947 by Syd Staas, the Labelhouse name has become the backbone to a whole chain of operations stretching across the country. Since those early days Labelhouse has been a trusted benchmark for quality, service and pioneering work with self-adhesive wine labels. With a reputation built on innovation, Labelhouse has never been afraid to test the ground or to invest in new technology and systems.
Overseeing the Melbourne operation, based out of a busy factory in Reservoir, general manager Mark Fisher backs up that commitment with two brand new installations. A state-of-the-art offering from French machinery manufacturer SMAG features an E CUT S330 compact converting unit alongside a brand new Digital Galaxie converting line, hot off the Labelexpo tradeshow floor.
- Delivering on speed and quality: Australia's first SMAG Digital Galaxie at Labelhouse
SMAG’s flagship digital converter, the Digital Galaxie at Labelhouse is the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere, offering a combination of high-speed screen printing with hot foil stamping/embossing, flatbed and semi-rotary die cutting. With volumes of digital labels increasing, Fisher explains that the investment represents an important and exciting step for the business.
“It’s very simple really, to stay competitive. For all our criteria, the SMAG Galaxie was the real stand-out. We picked it on its credentials and its performance, to enable us to increase profitability without compromising quality,” he says.
The Digital Galaxie and E CUT join an HP Indigo WS-6600 that Fisher picked up from the Currie Group back at PacPrint13. With the Indigo up and running, and filling up nicely with work, the Labelhouse team was looking for something that could deliver converting flexibility as well as speed.
“We’re still just in the embryonic stage right now of taking analogue work onto digital with the Indigo. And now with the SMAG Galaxie and the E CUT on board, it’s a real time of transition, of finding the best process for the job. We’re letting the work dictate the process, and know that we’re still able to draw out the very best quality.
“It just puts us into that digital league. You’ve can’t sit on your hands in this business. You have to invest or go backwards,” he adds.
Not work shy
The two new machines hit the floor last October and Fisher hasn’t been shy about putting them through their paces from day one. With just a few months of work under their belts, the SMAGs are already hitting their stride, running two shifts and pumping out up to ten jobs a day.
“We were familiar with SMAG through the guys at Gulmen, and from its strong presence over in Europe. We considered a lot of different alternatives, but SMAG just consistently delivered on quality and speed. In fact, an E CUT had already gone in at another Labelhouse site and it was ticking all the boxes for performance and service to point where we were confident to roll it out as a Labelhouse standard,” says Fisher.
Even so, it was far from a done-deal. Fisher sent a team to put the Digital Galaxie through its paces, pushing the machine to the limits testing key performance areas for registration, embossing, foiling and screen print quality. What made the Digital Galaxie shine for Fisher was the performance of its fast flatbed SGV screen heads, clocking in at 30 metres a minute. This advantage was a key factor for the business, with Labelhouse reinvesting those savings into growing its customer base and service network.
The high-speed and quality weren’t the only draw, however, with the dedicated team at Gulmen Engineering backing up the technology with local service and support. Eddie Gulmen, managing director, worked closely with Labelhouse on the installation and believes that the Digital Galaxie will be a huge boon for the company.
“We’re very pleased with how it went in and look forward to working together again,” he says. “Mark’s got a new Indigo 6600 there which is pumping out high-speed print, and the thing is that finishing can become a bit of a bottleneck. The Digital Galaxie was specifically designed to match those speeds and really open the game up. We’re talking instant print, instant finishing.”
Looking forward, Fisher insists that when it comes to making the next investment, it’s never a question of ‘if’, only ‘when’. But in the meantime his focus is on his customers and growing the business.
“For now there’s not much we can’t do. We’ve got the absolute latest equipment, the latest technology direct from the Labelexpo floor.”