Just before Christmas, the Kidderminster-based business had a Benford UV drying system retrofitted to its refurbished 250mm-wide two-colour Rotopress printer.

Aztec Label managing director Colin Le Gresley said: “As a provider of high quality, fast turnaround label solutions to the trade, we are always seeking to invest in the latest technology that provides competitive advantage and improved quality and sustainability performance for our customers.

“Over the past five years [Benford UV] have developed a new robust and high-tech LED UV dryer design that offers a number of benefits to us in narrow web printing.

“The advantages include improved consistency in print results, low operating costs and, importantly, the technology aligns to our overall sustainability objectives in optimising our energy use.”

Aztec Label is planning to roll out LED UV technology to the rest of its factory “in due course”.

“We’ve been impressed with the simplicity and safety of the design and that the energy output adjusts automatically to the press speed to ensure perfectly cured inks,” said Le Gresley.

“The system has a compact design and continuous temperature and current monitoring too, providing us with the confidence we needed to manage our drying process efficiently.

“With the price of LED inks dropping as production economies of scale increase at ink makers, I’m sure LED is going to be a technology of choice for a lot of printers moving forward. The results are impressive.”

Marc Boden, founder of Benford UV, added: “The LED UV system we’ve installed at Aztec uses 30-35% less power than standard dryers with very little heat production, avoiding web distortion and boosting the quality and efficiency of the print process.

“We’re also incredibly proud that all the parts are British made, apart from the chips, adding to our sustainability credentials.”

The Benford UV system offers instant on/off capability with no warming time, which the company said ensures print consistency. The system is ozone and mercury free and provides a deep cure for tricky metallics, white and black inks.

Aztec Label has also recently installed a Nilpeter FB3300 four-colour flexo press and a RotoMetrics Versa-Cut dual-adjust anvil. The business acquired additional warehousing space in July 2020 and refurbishment was completed in November, taking the company’s total footprint to around 1,850sqm.

Established in 1993, Aztec Label manufactures a wide range of self-adhesive label and tag products.