Sydney printer Con-tact Labels is saving hours in set-up times for small runs with the Cliqx embossing system invented by neighbours Alan Fawcett and Ange O’Dea of specialist print shop Watermarx Graphics.
“To be honest, I was a little skeptical at first,” says Dean Gutknecht, director of Con-tact Labels - soon to be rebranded Con-tact Print - located at Sydenham Rd, Brookvale, northern Sydney. “But I’ve known Alan and Ange for many years - they’re also based in Brookvale - and we’ve done jobs for them and they’ve done jobs for us.
“We offer embossing and hot foiling and Alan approached me some time ago and said he wanted to retrofit their patented Cliqx system onto our Hikari narrow-web label machine.
“We’ve been trialing the new system over the past couple of months on commercial projects and we’re extremely happy with it,” says Gutknecht.
“Some of our jobs can be very short runs, things like 200 embossed invitations, and in the past, it could take two or three hours just to set up because it was difficult to line up the plates. Now, with the Cliqx system, which is based on a magnetic principle, the plates literally just snap into place almost instantly.
“We have been amazed how well it works and my operators just love it. It can often save us two or three hours in set-up time.”
The patented (US and Australia) Cliqx embossing die system consists of a water washed-out male and female photopolymer die set held by a magnetic mount. It was designed by Fawcett and O’Dea to give printers the opportunity to emboss in-house.
The hardware is made in China and the dies are manufactured at the Watermarx Technologies facility at Brookvale.
The system has now been installed at several Australian companies, including Melbourne lithographic printer AJC Printing.
Fawcett says the trial at Con-Tact shows the technology can be successfully retrofitted to older narrow web label machines. “We can take an old machine and put this new technology on it to produce very high quality, sharp and clean print at very competitive prices. It opens up a lot of opportunities in the market."