Puerto Rico-based Collazo Group has invested in an EFI Nozomi C18000 Plus ultra-high-speed, direct-to-board corrugated packaging printer, which will be used to replace litho lamination while generating new application opportunities for the company.

Founded 30 years ago, Collazo Group began life as a commercial print business. The company has also added wide format digital print, with an in-house design department for POP displays. It moved into packaging with the acquisition of a flexographic printing company.

Corrugated packaging has become a significant growth area, which the company has supported with the acquisition of a five-ply corrugator and, now, the four-color Nozomi UV LED inkjet printer. This investment makes Collazo the first Caribbean packaging converter to adopt single-pass inkjet technology, so giving it a ‘competitive advantage’ in addressing longstanding market gaps for high graphics corrugated work. By printing high-quality packaging and displays on the Nozomi C18000 Plus, company owner Christian Collazo is anticipating being able to replace nearly all his company’s litho lamination work with more-efficient digital production.

‘Just a couple of years ago, we had three litho presses. We sold them and began outsourcing the lithography we needed for packaging. We expect that the Nozomi will enable us to bring 90% of those outsourced jobs back in house. In fact, we believe the Nozomi C18000 Plus will allow us to double our capacity for high graphics work compared to what we have been producing with litho lamination. Plus, we can provide a better price and faster turn time for our customers by printing directly on the board.’

As Collazo Group uses white top liner for much of its work, when comparing technologies it found that the Nozomi C18000 Plus delivered higher quality than comparable aqueous inkjet single-pass products. ‘Had we chosen a solution with water-based inks, we would have been more limited,’ continued Mr Collazo. ‘We would not have the quality we need to migrate our display work to digital.’

Collazo Group is retaining its litho lamination equipment for the occasional 100,000-plus quantity jobs it produces. That said, company executives expect some larger-quantity jobs will migrate to digital once clients and prospects see the versioning advantages the new printer creates.

As well as replacing litho, the company is anticipating the Nozomi printer to create opportunities for businesses in Puerto Rico that buy flexo. With the island having little in the way of full-colour flexo printing capacity – ‘a barrier for local flexo packaging buyers’ – businesses having previously been unable to drive greater marketing appeal with high graphics designs because of litho lamination’s added cost, time and quantity requirements, according to Collazo Group. Now those companies have access to a digital high graphics option that is more cost-effective than litho lamination at the quantities they need.

For both analogue process, Collazo Group sees the reduction in waste generated as a benefit to customers, with make-readies accounting for a significant percentage of an average medium-run job. In addition, analogue corrugated converting has previously required importing and storing larger quantities of single-face corrugated rolls. This can lead to high rates of spoilage owing to Puerto Rico’s humid climate when anything is stored for too long.

This, as noted by Mr Collazo, ‘will be another cost savings for our customers since we will no longer have to account for all that waste in our pricing.’

He continued, ‘Because it is a digital printing process and we are largely producing on demand, our customers can easily change their artwork based on seasonality, promotions and more. This is a huge selling point that no one else on the island can accommodate the way we can. When I explain this capability to new prospects, I almost always get a meeting with them.’

Such has been the demand that even before the press’ installation, the company has client work lined up for its Nozomi C18000 Plus printer, with volumes expected to grow quickly.

Evandro Matteucci, vice president, Packaging and Building Materials, EFI Inkjet, said, ‘Collazo Group can be a leading example of what the corrugated converting industry gains in the transition to a more-efficient, more sustainable, premium-quality, and proven single-pass inkjet solution.’