It's no secret that today's label printers need to use every technology available to guarantee top-quality labels for their customers, while realizing optimum printing and label production, cost effectiveness and minimum waste. Suppliers integrating these technologies into the latest workflow designs are helping growing converters such as Gravesend, UK-based Leading Edge become more productive and successful.

Lean manufacturing, measurable results, and quality and process control that maximizes throughput continue to put integrated-workflow management in the spotlight. For precisely these reasons, Gravesend, UK-based label and packaging printer Leading Edge has adopted key technologies that work well together to deliver the highest quality, efficiently, consistently and at maximum profit. In particular, BST Pro Mark (www.bstpromark.com) inspection and Comco (www.comcointl.com) presses are two technologies that have helped Leading Edge accomplish these goals.

Producing four billion labels annually for both the household consumer goods and premium food markets, Leading Edge leads by example, using technology to efficiently print and convert defect-free products. The company offers an extensive portfolio and prints a variety of substrates including film labels (adhesive and thermal applications), peel-n-seal labels, flowwrap and lidding films, wraparound films, and printed amorphous-PET trays and sleeves.

To produce all these labels, Leading Edge uses three Comco ProGlide MSP in-line, flexographic-printing presses, fully integrated with Premius® Digital LeX inspection and print-management systems from BST. A combination of state-of-the-art, multi-substrate printing married with top-of-the-line inspection and process management allows the growing converter to deliver quality products with confidence.

The Premius Digital LeX, a comprehensive print-process management system, includes full visual inspection as well as optional print-process modules for defect detection, color monitoring, bar-code verification and job/roll reporting, and even inspection of actual print to the job master PDF file. Capable of being integrated with a web edge-marking device or with BST's Shark™ 100%-inspection system on a rewinder, the Premius provides a comprehensive workflow solution from PDF to package.

Leading Edge's mid-web Comco ProGlide MSPs employ an exclusive upper chill-drum design to best handle a variety of film and specialty substrates. The equipment arsenal: two 26-in. presses (a 9-color and a 10-color), and a 22-in., 10-color system. Non-stop production is available on the 26-in., 10-color unit via a Martin Automatic (www.martinautomatic.com) butt-splicer unwind and a transfer rewind. Fitted with UV-curing systems from GEW Intl. (www.gewuv.com) and Comco hot-air dryers on one press for special coatings, each ProGlide also features laminators, modular diecutting and sheeting capabilities. Die suppliers are Kocher+Beck (www.kocher-beck.com), Gerhardt (www.gerhardt.net) and Rotometrics (www.rotometrics.com). Each custom-configured Comco ProGlide system is critical to efficiently alternating among and producing many applications from standard pressure-sensitive materials to polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride and polypropylene films to roll-thermoforming materials and shrink sleeves.

For many high-profile, label-buying customers, the increasing demands for defect-free product continues to put pressure on suppliers such as Leading Edge. The primary defect it wanted to eliminate was hickeys, which occurred in various sizes and shapes. The defect-detection module of Premius LeX allows press operators to both visually see and automatically identify hickeys and a whole host of other defect types. Operators set size parameters and add them to the job recipe, and every future run is automatically inspected to the quality levels necessary to “pass” inspection. Premius alerts operators when defects first appear, allowing fast corrective action and preventing the “waste” threshold from ever being attained.

Mike Brown, joint managing director at Leading Edge since 1997, foresaw the company's need for this automated print-inspection system. “Our press operators used to do manual inspection of every job, but as our jobs became more complex and our presses became wider and faster, it became more difficult to find the defects, and it resulted in tremendous waste.

“Our customers define the quality thresholds for their products, and we had to translate those expectations into our daily production,” he adds. “The Premius LeX systems definitely have improved the quality of our product.”

The Premius LeX's digital 3-chip camera with a resolution of 4.2 mega-pixels gives press operators image quality that displays all the finest details, sharp contrast and natural, life-like colors. The technology is a key reason the system is also effective for eliminating hazing, splashes, streaking and other defects.

“Before having the Premius LeX, we would often catch defects too late, at times resulting in throwing a whole roll into the bin,” says Brown. “Now, we can catch a defect and stop the defect within 100 meters. It has dramatically reduced the amount of waste we incur.” And with the Comco ProGlide presses running at speeds of 100-120 meters/min, that adds up to major savings annually.

Color monitoring and bar-code verification are system features Leading Edge also uses to ensure high-quality production. Bar-code verification identifies print problems with bar codes on-the-fly and allows press operators to correct them immediately. This program monitors the quality of printed bar codes (UPC, UPC-A, EAN, I2 Of 5) printed in either ladder or picket fence orientation. For a labelmaker such as Leading Edge with a high volume of consumer packaging, this has proven to be an essential feature.

The color-monitoring function lets color standards be entered into the job recipe, then Premius continuously monitors the actual on-press colors during the run and alerts the operator when a slight change has been detected, typically one Delta E. As an in-line color device, Premius has been independently tested and found to give results entirely consistent with an off-line spectrodensitometer, says BST.

Citing immediate improvement in print quality, Leading Edge customers noticed the difference in their labels, Brown says, and indicated that customer confidence has increased dramatically. They know that the Premius/Proglide integrated workflow is in place and have physically seen a difference in the print quality delivered to them.