Thai: Zebra invests in FA-4*

Zebra Technologies Europe has installed an FA-4 * in the UK as it seeks to grow its supplies business. James Quirk reports

Zebra Technologies Europe is well-known for its thermal label printers – it boasts some 7,000 resellers for these machines, whose main markets are manufacturing, transport/logistics, retail, and healthcare, and estimates to have a 40 percent market share in the EMEA region. But at its facility in Preston, UK, the company also prints its own labels – sold to users of its printers – as well as an array of products such as wristbands and tags, on a fleet of flexo presses designed and built in-house.

Zebra hosted a partner event in December to mark the installation of the FA-4*

“We want to attach more label sales to our printer sales in order to increase market share,” says Elaine Wilkinson, senior manager, supplies product marketing, at Zebra Technologies Europe. “We are growing quickly and need to produce more complex products  locally, such as wristbands, rather than import them from our sites in the US. We want to be flexible in our production. Our business is growing too quickly for us to continue manufacturing presses internally, hence the installation of the Nilpeter FA-4*.”

The water-based, 8-colour UV-press features a Tamarack insertion unit, rail system, turnbar, reverse printing units, relam./delam., and lamination. It has three die stations, including a Quick-Change die-cutting unit developed by Nilpeter in cooperation with Kocher+Beck, which allows a die to be changed in just 10 seconds. A 100 percent inspection system will shortly be added.

Read full story in L&L, issue 5, 2017