Regulars / The Andy Thomas-Emans column | 29The Andy Thomas-Emans column Industry founders develop digital for the smaller convertern many ways, this edition of Labels & Labeling represents a “Digital is the obvious way to turning point in the digital debate. Gallus, one of the founders Iand titans of the conventional narrow web industry, has publicly replace legacy fexo presses, announced a new mission: to lead the ‘digital transformation’ of the labels industry with the launch of a standalone digital press with no but high-end hybrid machines inline converting units.Gallus already has a hybrid digital press, of course, the LabelFire, are often out of the question for but this is positioned as the company’s ‘Rolls Royce’ at the top end companies with limited capital of the market, along with all the inline options one would expect from a top-of-the-line fexo press.resources. This is the key target The revelation about Gallus’ new digital press, the Gallus One, is that it targets the mid-market sector. It is a standalone press for the digital presses announced without any inline options, with fnishing envisaged as near line on a separate converting machine. by Mark Andy and Gallus”Up to now, the conventional press manufacturers have targeted primarily the higher-end market with their hybrid inkjet-fexo presses. But the new Gallus press is aimed specifcally at the smaller America. These machines are generally kept going because they converter looking to replace legacy fexo or letterpress machines. have long been paid for and keep turning over a modest proft with It also has enough advanced features inherited from the LabelFire, little effort. However, they generally require skilled operators to such as automatic missing nozzle compensation, to attract elite set up and change over since there is little or no automation. And converters looking to populate multiple sites with digital presses. as we know, such operators are getting more and more scarce. The In another major cultural shakeup, Gallus stresses that the pandemic also demonstrated the need to de-skill the print process hardware specifcations are less important than placing the to avoid having key personnel out of action and bringing press lines digital press inside an ecosystem that links it to wider factory to a halt.management systems. It is no longer about training skilled Digital is the obvious way to replace these presses, but high-end operators but automating and de-skilling the actual print process. hybrid machines are often out of the question for companies with The skills move to the front end of the process, but even here, much limited capital resources. This is the key target for the digital presses can be automated. Here, Gallus plugs into partner Heidelberg’s announced by Mark Andy and Gallus.existing Prinect workfow. Before leaving the subject, it is worth noting that Omet A similar story can be told about Mark Andy’s announcement has proved the exception to this trend with the launch of its that it will integrate Konica Minolta’s latest Accurio digital print mid-market KFlex fexo press platform. Interviewed by this engine in a new generation of Digital Pro presses. writer, Omet CEO Antonio Bartesaghi said Omet believes label While Mark Andy has the high end covered with its Digital converters prefer fexo to digital - provided fexographic technology Series HD hybrid press, the company was probably the frst of the continues to progress towards ‘set and forget,’ where machines conventional press manufacturers to recognize that a new machine can be operated by semi-skilled labor assisted by basic automation concept was required to tackle the smaller-to-mid sector of the and machine intelligence. Omet has developed a new way of converter market. This led to the development and launch of the manufacturing the KFlex platform more effciently, making it Digital One press, which was built around a 4-color toner-based extremely cost competitive in its target market. print engine and basic onboard converting. It should also be noted that neither Gallus nor Mark Andy has This can be seen as a continuation of Mark Andy’s historical abandoned fexo press development. It is a question of which targeting of this market segment with fexo presses like the 830, features and at which price-point fexo works against digital in the 2200 and Scout. The company sees simple to operate 4-color toner small-to-mid sector of the converter market.presses as the direct successors to these machines. The prize for targeting this part of the converter market is the legacy press base. Depending on which analysis you use, legacy To learn more about these developments, visit Labelexpo fexo and letterpress machines make up between 40 to 50 percent Americas in September. www.labelexpo-americas.comof the installed narrow web press base across Europe and North Jul - Sep 2022