Label King | 97Label King enters the digital worldAfter 20 years in the label industry, California-based converter Label King, has entered the digital arena with a Domino N1610i digital press. Luis Rodriguez reports ounded in 2002, Label King, a label converter based in San Diego, California, has recently installed a Domino N610i Fdigital press, the company’s frst foray into the digital space.The installation of the digital press comes after a roughly two-year process in which the company built a climate-controlled, 1,000 sq ft space, in addition to its 8,300 sq ft facility, to house the new machine.‘Right now, it’s really an ideal spot to have our digital press,’ says Robert Parker, founder and CEO of Label King. ‘We see it as showcase for our capabilities as a converter. A custom-built, climate-controlled, newly constructed area with beautiful fooring. Everything dialed in and bumped up to frst class. It was very important to us to jump into the digital world correctly.’Within the company’s facility is an extensive feet of equipment that includes a 10in Mark Andy 2200, a 13in Mark Andy P5, three Rotofex rewinders, an array of tabletop equipment, and a Rotofex DF3 that was installed in early 2022.‘The Rotofex runs parallel to the Mark Andy P5,’ says Parker. ‘One After a long journey, the Domino N610i was installed in the 1,300 sq ft space Robert Parker had built for a digital pressof the reasons we got Rotofex is that we know how to run the P5, and the tooling and print cylinders it uses are very similar, so the operators who are trained on one can easily be moved over to the “We see it as showcase for our other. And we can run two-color jobs on it with a little downtime as well, which is very important to us.’capabilities as a converter. A Right now, Label King has both the N610i and the Rotofex DF3 running, but behind the successful installation was two-year custom-built, climate-controlled, process in which the company had to work through the limitations of Californian real estate and conduct extensive research into which newly constructed area with press would work best for the company.beautiful fooring. Everything dialed Finding the right pressin and bumped up to frst class.”‘We looked at the major digital press manufacturers in the industry and came to the conclusion that this was the size, the footprint, that we needed,’ says Parker. presses could color match and closely reproduce the work of Label Constructing the additional space required to house the digital King’s clients; it was also to eliminate any biases.press of the company’s choosing, however, took longer than ‘I’m glad we did it that way, because I think everyone has some anticipated as real estate in San Diego is limited. biases about what they think is going to work best for them or you ‘With the 8,300 sq ft, there was no feasible way we could install sometimes hear about other people’s good or bad experiences, a digital press in a climate-controlled area unless we were to which is something we didn’t want,’ says Fiske. ‘We wanted what portion off inside some of the space we already had, but that just was best for us, what worked best with our job mix, independent of didn’t work for us,’ says Parker. ‘So, we had to build a bump out to what others have said because everyone’s business is different.’our building and get the proper permits to build, which all-in-all After the list of manufacturers began to narrow, the team took about year.’ continued looking into what best worked for Label King, that being As the construction was being fgured out, the team at Label support post-installation.King was also deciding which digital press was going to be its frst. ‘We need to make sure that we do the best thing for us, and With the help of Turi Fiske, digital lead at Label King, and production the most important thing you have to understand when buying manager, David Sommay, Parker began to run some tests with a a digital press is what happens after you get the digital press,’ handful of digital press manufacturers across the country. says Parker.‘We started off really wide, looking at many of the major For Label King, whether it’s for its customers or for the company manufacturers. Sending them fles, a few samples of the work itself, support is crucial. The company wanted a manufacturer that we’ve been doing, and asking them to recreate them,’ says produces many of its own parts and has support staff that would be Parker. ‘Once we got the samples back, Turi wrote the names of attentive when or if a problem arose.the manufacturers on the back so we could run a blind test to Another aspect that was necessary in the company’s purchase, really fgure out which press could reproduce the work we were especially with the press being the company’s frst digital system, already producing.’ was ease of use.The reasoning behind the test was not only to work out which ‘In a three-to-four-month period, we visited the three companies Apr - Jun 2022