Print Smarter, Reduce Waste

Despite the newspaper reports on the current waste packaging dilemma the future is actually very positive and bright for all of us, especially the packaging printing industry as a whole.

Continuous innovations in packaging materials, recycling initiatives, sustainability reports by the big names being published and awareness groups springing up suggesting the best way forward, it all looks great for every printer.

But how do you achieve this? How easy is it to actually be sustainable now, let alone for the future and how do you make these core savings with everything costing more and more each day?

Well, the answer is very simple, Print Smarter.

A recent study of packaging waste indicated that an alarming 300 million tonnes of packaging waste goes into the skip or landfill before even reaching consumers.

Have you ever thought how much money this costs your business every year? Chances are you haven’t. Because if you did – you would have done something about it along time ago. Or you would at least have wanted to, but the options have so far been limited. Until now that is.

Troika Systems have saved printers in the packaging industry worldwide in excessive of €3.05 billion, with the average narrow web printer saving thousands of euros every month. Don’t believe us? Do a quick calculation of how many metres of waste material is being thrown into the skip each day, multiply this by a year? Beginning to see the bigger picture?

Just check how long it takes for your own company to make ready and get to the correct ink colour density. Exactly how much did your business waste on colour matching?

Troika Systems are dedicated to the Print market. We have been for decades.

We know that colour matching for labels, packaging, or shrink sleeves is not as simple as in traditional paper printing.

Printers can print in Flexo, Gravure, offset, screen or letterpress and need to work with 100’s of different substrates. Each combination of substrate and printing methods require its own specific colour matching.

You print on the very products that your client’s sell. If the colour on your clients packaging is not right they will leave for your competition.

So – how do printers match colour today? They mix. They print. They hope. And mix again. Our 1,500 customers tell us on average that 3 - 5 pulls are typical to obtain correct colour density.

How do you do it? How long does it take you to get it right? On average a printer spends 2.5 hours per day creating new ink formulations. During that time the press is not making any money.

It’s easy to do the maths. (Hours) x (days) x (your charge for press time) = money lost.

For most printers this amounts to thousands of Euros every month. But there’s more. The ink and substrate spent during the mixing and trial runs also add up to significant numbers. Typically, our customers are saving 15% in make ready waste.

All in all – this is likely much more money than you thought it would be. And much more than you want it to be. 

But there is an easy solution; by using Troika Systems AniCAM as part of your quality control process you are able to accurately match your anilox rolls for each job set up.

And the benefits to your company?

• You save money. A lot of money. We know printers that have saved €100,000 per year.
• You increase your printing capacity. On average 2.5 hours more of production capacity per day. More capacity with existing presses.
• You reduce your environmental footprint. Using ink and substrate just to throw it away is not only costly it is grossly irresponsible.
• You get consistent results. Red is red and it’s the right red. Every time. Just what clients want.
• Available 24/7 
• You’re never alone. We have local support to guide you.

With over 1500 installations of our award winning AniCAM, we proactively work with your team and can typically provide a 15% reduction in waste and 55% reduction in Ink waste, whilst also actively increasing productivity. Don't continue to hemorrhage money each day, get in contact with us now to see where we can help your business improve its process and gain back financial positivity.