Three mounters demonstrated scalable solutions for streamlining production in any label printing operation

Manchester, UK – For JM Heaford, the decision to take three mounting machines to Labelexpo was a clear success that resulted in all three being sold off the booth during the show. Chosen to demonstrate that efficiency and productivity gains are available for any size or scale of operation, the mounters drew a record number of visitors to the booth leading to sales to the USA, Canada, Colombia and Mexico since the show.

Heaford’s showcase product at Labelexpo, the Label AutoMounter, gave demonstrations of fully automated plate mounting designed to cater for larger label producers with round-the-clock operations and multiple presses. Taking less than one minute to mount any plate, it eliminates the need for skilled operators with overall control maintained via a simple, multi-lingual graphic interface and ability to store and recall over 100,000 jobs. The Heaford AutoMounter at the show was sold to E-Z Stick Labels, Sante Fe Springs, CA for use with a state-of-the-art press bought at the show.

Heaford’s market-leading FTS plate mounter was sold to an existing customer, Custom Label in Hayward, California. Offering semi-automation, ease-of-use, repeatable accuracy and speed, the FTS replaces a Heaford ELS model that the customer has been operating for almost 20 years. Having experienced the precision, reliability and low cost of ownership of the ELS, the customer decided to take the next step to the FTS model to coincide with a new press investment also made at the show. The company confidently expects to achieve payback on purchase of the FTS within a few months.

Designed to eliminate the need to mount plates “by eye”, the EES plate mounter on display was bought by Northern Label Inc, MI. With past experience of Heaford build quality, accuracy and longevity, the Michigan label printer took the EES plate mounter away with them as the show closed.

“The temptation at high-profile shows like Labelexpo is to focus all your energies on your biggest and best, the headline-grabbing products such as our AutoMounters, but this would be to disregard the needs of the vast majority of the market,” comments Sally-Anne Heaford, Managing Director of JM Heaford. “At JM Heaford we have consistently maintained a commitment to developing technologies that add value for customers of every size and production setup. Clearly, our strategy of expanding the booth at Labelexpo and showing our range of solutions for tag and label producers was a resounding success.”

JM Heaford Directors Sally-Anne Heaford and David Muncaster were joined for the duration of the show by Nick Vindel, Latin American Sales Manager, US based service engineer Gary Zima, and Gregg Gayle of US Flexo Solutions, Heaford’s exclusive US representative. US Flexo Solutions organised a competition during the Show designed to highlight the ease of plate mounting using the AutoMounter. As anticipated, everyone who tried also succeeded in mounting a perfectly registered plate, and the winner drawn from a hat was Paul Roux, VP of Development at Syracuse Label & Surround Printing.

“For US Flexo this Show was a testament to teamwork and cooperation” comments Gregg Gayle. “Of course, the Heaford mounters make my job easy. The fact that two of the three mounters on the booth were bought by return customers reflects the precision and reliability that comes from the build quality and components used. One of those customers was upgrading and adding capacity after using one of machines for almost 20 years – you can’t say better than that!”

Left to right, Sally-Anne Heaford, Gary Zima, David Muncaster, Nick Vindel, and Gregg Gayle of US Flexo Solutions.