Web2Print: FAQ

Interest in the web-to-print is growing and a successful operator in the sector, Pixartprinting, is able to give exhaustive answers to questions from potential users. It does so in a systematic and detailed way on its website (www.pixartprinting.it) and also from the pages of ItaliaImballaggio. In this issue, updates about the ability to print labels "online": a service put in place recently and which foreshadows a development focused on quality.

How is the market responding to your innovative proposal?
With an adhesion that has exceeded out wildest expectations. Studies of this market in fact have highlighted gaps in the product offer, particularly regarding roll-fed labels.
We therefore aimed in this direction and we have been literally overwhelmed with orders. To the point where we are on the verge - mid-October - of doubling our production capacity by installing a second Epson SurePress L-4033°.
With this new machine, we can also reproduce heavy white in addition to the six-color printing (CMYK orange and green) that we already achieve on our first Epson, that has been operational for several months.

What are the most popular features and why?
Digital printing makes labels accessible to everyone, even for prototyping and even for small batches, while with traditional technologies limited quantities are very expensive.
This being so, we offer a plus that makes the difference: we produce quality labels at really affordable prices, and through an innovative channel-service, our web-to-print in fact, that for users of this market is a revelation in terms of ease and speed of the order online. On top of that: the accuracy of the delivery is very much appreciated, we guarantee a timeframe previously unthinkable, even in just 24 hours.
What have been the most requested label types up to now? What are their characteristics, from the point of view of materials, formats and runs?
In these first months of activity we have dealt with all types:
from paper labels for nutraceuticals to those in PP for outdoors, to be applied to containers for paints, printing on the adhesive paper for wine, jam, honey, decals on transparent substrates...
In fact, we have found that when you make a product that is easy to deal with, economical, qualitative and with a precise delivery date, customers are free to invent and let their imagination roam.

In the light of the results obtained therefore do you believe that there is a real interest in online printing of labels?
I certainly do.
 
Are you planning to further enhance the service? If so, by what means?
The new Epson with white doubles our production capacity and expands the application possibilities in terms of color rendering and special effects, as well as printing on different materials, including transparencies.

Was the investment necessary to respond to specific requests from customers?
The second SurePress allows us to cope with the continuing growth in demand and the resulting volume of orders. In addition, Epson has equipped this latest version of the machine with the color white, thus expanding the range of possible applications.
After the first market approach phase, that without these extraordinary results perhaps would have remained at the testing stage, we are refining the offer on the basis of the feedback and specific requests that we are directly getting from customers.
For example, we are introducing the possibility of indicating in the estimate and subsequent confirmation phase the size of the coil requested. And the customers seem to appreciate this a lot.

The web2print began as a competitive alternative to traditional printing and constitutes a particular form of outsourcing.

In this context, Pixartprinting (Quarto d'Altino, VE), which has rapidly gained a reputation as a supplier of excellence through the quality of products manufactured and services provided.
From small to large formats, from magazines to exhibitors and samples, from labels to packaging: Pixartprinting is able to meet a host of different printing needs, leveraging an uncommon ability to invest in technology and a streamlined and capable organisation able to seize opportunities for improvement.
Today the company serves some 80,000 customers across Europe with an average of 3,800 operations per day using latest generation machinery.