Colorado Etiquettes based in Rouen, France, has installed the first Mark Andy Evolution flexo press in Europe, giving it extra capacity and the space to develop new products.
Built around the all-servo P7 platform, the Evolution is a modular press that can be tailored to any configuration to suit current work and modified at a later date as demand changes. The Evolution installed at Colorado is a six-colour full UV press with a 330mm web width. It is fitted with turn bars, a double die station, closed-loop tension control, auto and pre-register features, and servo unwind and rewind. The new press joins existing Mark Andy 830 and 2200 lines at the Rouen facility.
Speaking for Colorado, Laurent Fenot, grandson of the founder, who has run the business for the past 35 years with his wife Christelle, commented, ‘We chose the Evolution because we believed it was the ideal press to allow us to fulfil our existing demand and offer the flexibility to explore new markets. We have a reputation for solving difficult problems here, so it is vital that the equipment complements our technical skills and knowhow. The Evolution will help us to develop products for niche markets, and as it’s our first 330mm press, it offers added capacity too.’
At a ceremony to commemorate the occasion, Tom Cavalco, executive vice president of sales for the American manufacturer, said, ‘I am delighted to see that our latest flexo technology is applicable to and affordable by the smaller label converters who are looking to improve their productivity and extend their market opportunities. I congratulate Colorado on being the first label converter in France to benefit from what the Evolution has to offer.’
A compact business that employs five staff, including Laurent and Christelle, and occupies a packed 600sqm production unit, Colorado Etiquettes has carved a niche for itself in the French market. Based on knowhow and customer service as opposed to price, it occasionally loses customers – but they frequently return for the skill offered to cope with complex work. When quizzed about the next move being into digital print, Laurent Fenot largely dismissed the possibility, he said, ‘The type of short run work that yields profit is not that which can be done by any company with a digital press – that’s our USP.’
