SCREEN Truepress Label Press User, BGR, Converts 95% of Flexo Work to Digital L350 Technology

(From left) Scott Kneer, operations manager; Tom Hagedorn, plant manager; and Jaime Balent, director of sales.

Since we added the SCREEN (Booth 10951) Truepress Jet L350UV, we have been doing more and more long runs, which has turned out to be a sweet spot for our production line,” explains Scott Kneer, operations manager of BGR Label’s Printing Division. “We’re not talking 10,000–15,000 feet of material; BGR is literally running half a million to a million feet every month, and it’s fantastic.”

This family owned, Cincinnati-based company was founded in 1972. Today, the Backscheider family has grown their business to become the #1 packaging and shipping-supply distributor in Ohio and the five surrounding states, serving the following markets: manufacturing, wholesale, automotive, food, pharmacy, healthcare, steel, and metals.

BGR has grown $1 million a year in the last two years, with annual sales of $5.5 million. “Our growth is solely been because of the SCREEN, as roughly 70% of our business is digital,” claims Kneer. “Because of the success that we experienced with the L350, we decided to add a second SCREEN label press — this time an L350UV+ to take advantage of the orange ink option, the chill roll option, and additional speed. It was a plug and play situation.”

An astonishing 95% of BGR’s four-color process converted from flexo to digital. The move more than paid for itself, considering the time saved in operator efficiency, ink, and the reduction in set up time. Production speed also increased from 174 fpm to 198 fpm with the L350UV+. According to Kneer, “We had perfect registration with every run, and the ink was consistent from tank to tank. That’s monumental. And the Truepress allows us to offer live label proofs and forward it to the customer for a final approval. That was not an option with the flexo.”

When searching for printers, Kneer said that many of the competing companies had a list of approved materials; SCREEN did not, due to the type of ink they use. A top coat was no longer required with the L350 Inkjet. “The Truepress relieves the press operator from a number of time-consuming tasks, such as physically having to mount a plate, mixing the ink to achieve the correct color, and registering each color together,” states Kneer.

“The addition of our SCREEN has truly been amazing! To think that we would have the capability to produce the type of labels that we are producing on a daily basis, consistently from day to day has really changed the way that BGR operates,” he concludes.