Graphic Art Systems, Inc, the leading developer and manufacturer of foil enhancement equipment for the printing industry for over 20 years, announced today that it has installed an Eco-Eagle cold foil system at Marrs Printing & Packaging, located in City of Industry, CA, in April 2012. The Eco-Eagle cold foil system was installed on the firm’s manroland 700 40-inch six-color UV-equipped press with coater. 

“As we celebrate our 40 years of service in the printing industry, we felt the need for innovation and to differentiate ourselves from our competitors,” says Walt Marrs, president of Marrs Printing & Packaging. “We wanted to enable our company to offer our customers something that no one else can, providing them with faster turnaround, reduced costs, and an environmentally-friendly solution. Installing our Eco-Eagle Cold Foil system provided the answer to those needs.”

But being an innovator carries a risk, notes Marrs, who asks, “Will there be a market for cold foil?” For years, Marrs had offered hot foiling services to its packaging customers but the firm had sent the work out to another facilitator. “Not having the equipment under your own roof can have its own problems,” says Marrs. “You lose control over the job and sometimes the price can fluctuate. Most importantly, you can lose control over your schedule and your customer’s schedule, which has become more critical over the past few years.”

After notifying its present customers of the recent installation and the capability of cold foil application, Marrs’ customers have shown tremendous interest. “We are very optimistic that cold foiling will be a growing area for our company,” says Marrs. “Our leading packaging customers are seeking to draw attention to their packages on the shelf and a shiny foil application provides that attention. In addition, foil serves to showcase the quality of the package and what it holds inside--a high-quality product.”  

Marrs was also drawn to the environmental-friendliness of the cold foiling process. “In the past we have done quite a bit of printing on foil board but this process is not very cost effective and is also not green-friendly,” he says. “Cold foil not only reduces the cost compared to overprinting on foil board, but it is 100% green friendly as proven by the testing company PIRA. More and more of our clients have shown a substantial concern toward the environment and will pay more to have their packaging printed in an environmentally-friendly, responsible manner.” 

Another key factor in choosing the Eco-Eagle cold foil system was the reduced costs involved. “Although we’ve been running the system for only a few weeks, we believe that the process will reduce our overall costs,” says Marrs. “Having a cold foil system in our facility will increase our turnaround time, reduce waste, and increase our throughput. We’ll be able to pass on our cost savings to our own customers. That is an important factor to weigh because price is a competitive denominator between printers.”

Marrs explains that the installation was quite smooth. The entire Eco-Eagle cold foil installation process took less than one week. He says they were able to take on a production run immediately after the installation and after a few hours of training.  “We were impressed with the short installation time,” says Marrs. “This provided value to our company because we weren’t down on press time.”  

Marrs was also impressed with the strong reputation and guarantee from Graphic Art Systems. “Part of being an innovator is choosing the right machine partner and although there were less expensive alternatives, no company had the knowledge of foil and the reputation like Eagle System foil retrofits. The machine risk was simple as well, with a money back guarantee, which is unheard of in today’s business world and that enabled us to make a quick decision,” says Marrs. “When Mike King stated that his machine would do everything he says it will do or your money back, we were impressed and that sealed the deal.”

“We are pleased to provide Marrs Printing & Packaging with a solution to their foiling services,” says Michael King, president of Graphic Art Systems. “Having a system within their own facility will attract new as well as existing customers.”

Graphic Art Systems, known as “The Foil Experts,” has been the leader in the design and manufacturing of retrofit hot foil stamping equipment for over 20 years. Its Eagle Systems equipment has dominated the hot foil market with hundreds of installations worldwide. Recently Michael King, owner of Graphic Art Systems, applied his decades of specialization in foil enhancement equipment to the development of the Eco-Eagle Cold Foil System for sheet-fed offset presses. The Eco-Eagle is the most technologically-advanced, versatile and cost efficient cold foil system in the world.

The environmentally-friendly Eco-Eagle uses less power than a hairdryer to operate and was designed to eliminate foil dustcaused by machines using the old dancer roller system. It has the ability to run unlimited multiple narrow webs of the same size or different sizes, or one large web depending on the job. The Eco-Eagle is operator-friendly, requires no mechanical, electrical or computer adjustments and can be retrofit to new or existing 28-inch up to 80-inch sheetfed offset presses from major press manufacturers. Installations typically are achieved between three to five days and production is running by the sixth day.