AA Labels invests £500,000 in responsive cartonboard packaging service
Packaging Solutions
The Peterborough operation invested in the UK’s first SCS Automaberg DCH200 die cutter and a Petratto Metro folder gluer from IFS. They have joined a Canon imagePress (C170 Series).
In addition, and with the help of IFS, AA Labels also installed a Foliant Mercury 530 NG 4x4 double sided laminator and a Veloblade Volta digital cutting table.
The one stop shop for labels and stickers produces in excess of 100,000 combinations of labels. It offers plain and printed labels, in roll and sheet formats, with a comprehensive range of shapes, sizes and colours. Customers can place orders of any size online and in some cases collect in an hour.
It is this production flexibility that Ian Axelsen, commercial director, wanted to recreate with cartonboard packaging applications. Customers can now order an array of fast turnaround options from carry handle and bakery boxes to French fries’ containers and pillow pouches.
Ian explaines, ‘We have a very specific view of the position that we will take within the market which has been created from the work we have done with labels. When we came into the label industry 15 years ago, we found it was very legacy driven with long lead times from order to fulfilment. It was out of step with what was happening with online purchasing. We always felt internet marketing was the only way forward we haven’t changed our view on that.
‘With the new service we wanted to ensure a high quality customer order experience and speed of order fulfilment. Provided the job is approved by midday we can commit to dispatching in 24 hours, irrespective of quantity. There is no minimum order or set up charge and it doesn’t matter if orders are 20 sheets or 20,000 sheets. Everything is included in the price.
‘We have also set up the website so that people can order specific closure types or create their own design. By having a wide range of options available online and offering a custom service we can be as comprehensive as possible. The site has been created so orders can be placed very easily whether you are knowledgeable about the process or not.’
Establishing the new service has taken two years of research and planning. Ian stated, ‘This is something we planned to do and we continued to go ahead with it despite the unfortunate timing with the shortage of paper products and difficulties in the logistics industry.’
Essential to its success was identifying the right finishing systems. He continued, ‘We didn’t want to compromise on cutting and creasing and folding and gluing. The SCS Automaberg DCH 200 is a well engineered machine. It has the fastest change over time for dies that we could find. That was important for operators having to manage many small quantities. They need to be able to complete a lot in a shift. This is also the reason operational ease was essential. We could see that a great deal of thought had gone into the system’s production process. It takes a lot of work to simplify something like that well. We were really impressed.”
As for the Petratto Metro he stated, ‘We liked the openness of it and its ease of access. It is not as quick to set up as the SCS but in our opinion it was quicker than other manufacturers. It is good Italian engineering and well put together.’
Pictured: Umer Anwar, operations and IT manager, with the Petratto Metro folder gluer and at AA Labels.
