The 80m/min and 1,200dpi Tau was delivered at the end of June and went into production in the first week of July.
Installed in an enlarged production room, it replaced an obsolete EFI Jetrion 4830. The new printer now runs alongside another Jetrion and a Domino N610i, with the company’s flexo work run through a Focus Proflex SE six-colour UV press.
The investment follows the firm’s £1.2m management buy-out in May 2022, which was funded by the Development Bank of Wales.
As part of the deal, £300,000 from the bank was set aside for expansion.
Managing director Jonathan Wright said the Tau itself was a way for Reel Label Solutions to secure sustainable growth.
“We’ve been in digital since 2010,” he told Printweek.
“The business has been growing year on year, and we’ve got to a position that we were looking at investing in another bit of kit to cope with that growth.”
In recent years, the company has typically hit 10% turnover growth, and is expected to clear £3.9m in its latest financial year, which ends in August.
Deciding to go with inkjet because it suited the firm’s key markets of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and chemicals, the company began looking for a suitable press in late 2022.
While the team considered a few different manufacturers – including those already in its mixed press stable – it opted for Durst after a January 2023 visit to the company’s Italian headquarters.
The decision has been a happy one, according to Wright.
He said: “The training was excellent, and since it’s been in, it has been outstanding.
“We believe that we can get higher quality business [with the machine] and we have already moved some litho work onto it – which, to be honest, I didn’t think we would be.”
Simon Cosh, Durst’s UKI business development manager, said: “With Reel Label Solutions quite rightly having demanding requirements, we are delighted it chose Durst Tau technology for a long-term solution.
“This investment is also another example of how increasing numbers of label converters are moving to our market-leading technology with all the benefits that include a quantum leap in print quality afforded by 1200dpi resolution.”
Reel Label Solutions employs 27 at its 600 sqm factory in Pontyclun, South Wales.
