Label Printer Smyth Companies Invests in Mitsubishi Press

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—Smyth Companies, one of North America’s premier package label printers, specializes in label and package promotion solutions for consumer goods in a variety of markets. Meeting customers’ just-in-time needs is crucial. The Minneapolis, Minn.-based printer has purchased a high-productivity Mitsubishi Diamond 3000LX sheetfed press to accelerate job turnarounds at its Bedford, Va., plant.

The Diamond 3000LX is scheduled for installation in July. The press is the third eight-color, 40-inch model Smyth Companies has purchased from Mitsubishi. The Diamond 3000LX can accommodate the wide range of paper and specialty nonporous substrates used at the Bedford facility, including C1S and C2S label stock, paperboard and polypropylene.

In business since 1877, family-owned Smyth Companies caters to the food, beverage, personal care, household care and private label markets. Some of the best-known brands benefit from Smyth Companies’ innovative labeling solutions.

A total of five manufacturing facilities in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Virginia and Colorado operate sheetfed, flexographic and rotary screen presses, as well as digital printing systems. Smyth Bedford emphasizes glue-applied paper and film labels and in-mold labels. Its cut-and-stack labels are applied to cans, jars and bottles, while its in-mold labels are found on injection-molded food containers and lids.

Smyth Bedford’s Diamond 3000LX will be equipped with an anilox coater, plus three interdeck ultraviolet (UV) modules and end-of-press UV lamps from Grafix to handle thin film stocks and provide UV curing of coatings. The interdeck lamps can be moved to any of the eight units through docking stations.

The press incorporates special features that improve print quality on heat-sensitive substrates. Air pans, water-cooled jackets and antistatic bars on the press help eliminate marking, warping and static when printing on plastics.

Inline conversion from roll to sheet is an especially effective solution for printing in the labels and packaging segment. A Mabeg RS 104 inline roll sheeter specifically engineered for nonstop operation of the Diamond 3000LX will allow the Bedford plant to print on plastic materials that are difficult to run from a cut pile.

To reduce makeready time associated with manually loading and unloading plates, Smyth Companies opted for the fully automated Mitsubishi SimulChanger plate-changing system.

In 2010, Smyth Companies installed an eight-color Diamond 3000LS with aqueous coater at the label and commercial printing plant in Austin, Minn. The 40-inch press also features SimulChanger and a Mabeg roll sheeter.