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Durst Tau 330: UV Inkjet Digital Printing

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Nearly all companies involved in the manufacturing of products is dependent, to a large degree, on the quality of the tools and machines they use to create their merchandise. Human skills and experience account for a lot, of course, but considering the rapid march of technology, it’s all too easy for a business to get left behind unless it has access to state-of-the-art equipment, whatever that might be in any given field.

This is true for the printing and labeling business as well. To create high-quality labels, decals, or nameplates, you need the right apparatus to get the job done properly. That’s why the team at SCN recently purchased a Durst Tau 330 digital label press. This is a highly advanced piece of equipment that substantially boosts SCN’s production capacity, allowing the company to offer not only improved quality but an expanded range of customer service options.

Durst, the manufacturer of this equipment, has earned a reputation as a global leader in digital inkjet printer systems made for industrial use. Durst has been a major industry player since the company was founded by Julius and Gilbert Durst in 1936.

The Tau 330 is known far and wide for its highly efficient, precise production quality. The Tau 330 will complement SCN’s flexographic, silkscreen, and other digital printing services by taking over some of the tasks that traditionally had been delegated to these divisions. On November 16, 2015, this equipment was installed at SCN’s facility and promptly put to use in producing high-quality printing runs.

This world-class printer system provides several benefits that will enable Southern Coating & Nameplate (SCN) to offer improved services to its customers. We discuss these features below.

Ability to Handle Relatively Small Runs

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The Tau 330 has been engineered for “narrow web” applications, which means that it can handle smaller print runs than is generally feasible. This gives SCN greater flexibility when fulfilling orders, as it is now easier to crank out a fairly modest volume of products (e.g. 5000 pressure-sensitive labels) when large runs are unneeded.

Furthermore, adding more labels to an existing order to comply with a last-minute request, such as an unexpected surge in demand, is now more manageable. Companies that lack narrow-web printing capabilities often require a large minimum run, forcing customers to purchase more than they want, or to order a year’s worth of inventory when they only need a few months of labels. With the Tau 330, though, all this waste isn’t necessary. As a result, SCN can pass on to its customers the benefits of this flexibility.

High Print Speeds

The Tau 330 can operate at speeds up to 157 fpm, with a production capacity of just over 10,000 sq. ft. per hour. That gives SCN the production speed it needs to maintain excellent turnaround times.

Inline Digital Laser Finishing System

The Tau 330 also includes high-quality inline digital laser finishing capabilities, courtesy of renowned laser cutting company Spartanics. The system’s integrated laser makes job changeovers quick and automatic, which helps to boost overall production speeds because it isn’t necessary to stop the equipment for this step. The system works by downloading a die file associated with each job, including a bar code to ensure proper organization of materials.

Laser Die Cutting Capability

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The laser of the Tau 330 can reconfigure itself automatically to accommodate design alternations during a print run. This enables SCN to save a significant amount of money on die costs, and these savings, in turn, get passed on to the customer. It also saves time, as this is another innovation that makes it unnecessary to pause the machine to make the proper adjustments.

UV Inkjet Printhead Technology

The Tau 330 boasts a print resolution of 720 x 1,260 dpi, allowing it to produce detailed, precisely rendered texts, images, and graphics. Also featuring gray-scale capability and variable drop sizes, this machine can handle even the most difficult printing jobs.

Durable Inks

Chemical- and scratch-resistant, the Tau 330’s UV inks are made to last. Labels and other print items produced with these inks can be expected to hold up for years—even in outdoor environments exposed to elements, including harsh sunlight. These inks are also appropriate for safety signs, as well as various industrial sites.

Lower Ink Consumption

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The Tau 330’s UV inks, which are heavily pigmented, have been specially devised to enable the label press to use significantly less ink without sacrificing the quality of the printed designs. The result is an efficient single-pass printing operation that conserves ink while retaining the capacity to generate first-class products.

High-Definition Printing

Capable of printing up to 1260 dots per inch (dpi), the Tau 330 can provide the kind of density necessary to generate rich, elaborate images and other visual features. This expands the options available to clients, who increasingly opt for complex designs for their labels, nameplates, and stickers.

Wide Integrations

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The Durst Tau 330 can be easily integrated inline with other digital finishing solutions, thus granting SCN even greater flexibility when setting up printing tasks.

Emergency Printing Capability

When a print run has to be produced as fast as possible, the Tau 330 provides an easily accessible solution, especially when compared with standard flexographic equipment that cannot be so readily put into use. This new equipment gives SCN the ability to comply with emergency requests and cope with unexpected circumstances when they arise.

Wide Range of Applications

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This equipment can reliably crank out a broad assortment of printing products, including labels for food containers, chemical applications, industrial environments, household bottles, and much more.

The Durst Tau 330 is a highly versatile and dependable piece of equipment that the team at Southern Coating & Nameplate is proud to have on-site. This machinery substantially expands the number of services and production options that SCN can offer its customers. It’s just one more reason why our company is an industry leader that so many organizations have come to rely on for their labeling needs

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