The AccurioLabel 230 will be installed “very soon” at the firm’s factory, informed Amit Bera, the 31-year old director at MDL. The AccurioLabel, which is in "the mid-range price bracket", boasts of image quality, improved accuracy and registration, along with a more stable build.

"We were really keen on having a solid roll-to-roll digital label printingmachine, to back both our stack flexo presses. The four-colour toner-based press boasts of a speed of 23.4 m/min, so it’s straight on, straight off and out the door to the customer,” said director Amit Bera.

This is MDL's first dedicated digital label press, the strategy is quite clear. The Konica Minolta Accuriolabel 230 will double the customer base of MDL from its present 480 to more than 1,000 customers. Bera said, "The world is changing every minute, and it is important for print to help build a brand in such a world. I feel a digital print label can help in building start up brands in India. We are talking to many unknown brands who are part of the Indian start-up ecosystem - and seeking a label solution to their products."

Amit Bera and the MDL team have been researching new digital label machines for some time now, meeting with all the major machine manufacturers. He said, "The quality of the print was critical for us, we needed to ensure the press we committed to is well suited to the broad range of substrates MRP currently supply from beverage to food industry. My director Ramesh Vanga and I were very impressed with the quality, performance and technology from the machine and it surpassed our expectations."

Vijay Kamat of Konica Minolta shared some samples and explained that "The 23.4m/min label line offers 1,200 X 3600 DPI and can handle substrates including pressure sensitive paper, BOPP, PET and PP, PVC and uncoated paper."

The 13 year old firm has a brace of label machines as well as a factory dedicated to manufacturing self-adhesive label stock.

"There’s been a bit of a shift as people move to ordering labels in lower quantities more frequently, which digital is ideal for,” said Bera.

Bera, who joined the Morya team two months ago to drive the digital print business, said, "Ramesh Vanga had been thinking about it for a while and decided to make the jump. More and more customers are now ordering labels when they themselves get an order, so if their lead time is a week that might only leave us three days – it’s print on demand essentially because nobody wants their money tied up at the moment."

The AccurioLabel 230 (with Simitri® HD E toner technology that incorporates functional polymers)

Like most businesses, the firm took a small hit during the early days of lockdown, but was able to keep the morale of the staff "fairly high". This is due to HR policy of home cooked food for the entire team. In addition Vanga has a manager who has been appointed in each and every state of India.

"All things considered though we’re having a good year, there’s been an uptake of existing customers doing well and new accounts coming on board, so we can’t complain," Said Bera. He added, "But now there is greater awareness about labels and packaging solutions, so we have to stay lean and be quick. We know we are competing with the big players in the business."

Is toner technology a concern? Kamat replied, "One of the defects when talking about electrophotographic toner is that often you get shiny effects on your prints. The composition of the Konica Minolta toner avoids that, you get an effect that almost looks like an offset printer, which even in the label industry means you can reach much higher levels of quality. The labels printed on the Accuriolable 230 are certified for international standards like FDA, Nestle guidance etc. "

Kamat added that the press is powered by a pre-flighting and label imposition software that supports a variety of pre-press tasks. "It helps customers like MDL to work smarter and to rethink efficiencies," Kamat signed off.