Based in Albstadt, southern Germany, Ebro Color is a modern, cardboard packaging print specialist with more than 90 years of history behind it. Founded in 1925, it has continually invested in new technologies over the years and now produces cardboard packaging and display units for a huge range of customers in a variety of sectors, from cosmetics to food, jewellery, and tourism. The business is run by brothers, and joint CEOs, German and Simon Brodbeck.
Back in 2018, though already something of a short-run specialist, offering run lengths as low as 25 units, the company decided to give itself even more flexibility and lower its costs further by making its first digital press investment. After a careful decision-making process, it chose to invest in the Fujifilm Jet Press 720S, after being impressed by its quality and reliability.
“The Jet Press 720S gave us the ability to offer ultra-short-run jobs (down to runs of one) both quickly and profitably, enabled us to produce high quality samples and prototypes, and to seriously target the end user market and move our business to an online model for the first time.” Explains German Brodbeck.
More recently, the company has become the first in Europe to use the Jet Press 720S with Fujifilm’s new FS-1 food-safe ink.
“In the past, we had to produce all food safe packaging for our customers on offset, regardless of run length.” continues Mr. Brodbeck. “Using the Jet Press 720S with Fujifilm’s food-safe ink has given us the option to produce food safe packaging products quicker, at a much lower cost, offering us the flexibility to produce both short and long run lengths. The press is much easier to use with significantly less downtime, and greater environmental benefits, so we could not be more pleased with the investment. One of our main concerns was if the quality of print produced on the press would be affected, but we were delighted that both the quality and reliability has remained the same and the difference to offset is undetectable.”
“We are using it to produce not only food packaging but also toy and cosmetic packaging, due to customer health and safety concerns and regulations surrounding these products. Ultimately, it is helping us to run our business more efficiently and take on a broader range of work.”
Additionally, Ebro Color invested in the Jet Press 750S High Speed Model in October 2021.
“Following the business success we saw after using the Jet Press 720S, we decided to invest in the 750S High Speed Model to keep up with growing customer demand. Our main reason for choosing this press was the output and large print volumes it could produce. It has enabled us to keep downtime to a minimum, especially during our peak season, and alleviated pressure elsewhere in the factory, allowing us to move many jobs from offset to digital.
“Another key reason for this investment was the sustainability benefits it offered. As a packaging business, sustainability is at the forefront of our customers’ minds. With our Fujifilm investments, we make significant savings on waste, downtime, and consumables, helping us and our customers to contribute to a more circular economy.”
Ebro Color also has an Acuity B1, which it is using to print large format packaging products.
“Typically, there are a lot of teething problems when a new press is installed, but with all of our Fujifilm investments, we were able to start using them out of the box, with seamless integration into our existing workflow. Communication with Fujifilm is excellent, and they are always readily available to support us. We’ve worked with Fujifilm for many years, and for both commercial digital and wide format solutions.“ Concludes Mr. Brodbeck.
“The first use of the food-safe ink in Europe represents decades of innovation from Fujifilm and marks an exciting time for the digital print industry.” Comments Taro Aoki, Head of Digital Press Solutions, Fujifilm EMEA. “We are delighted to see how the combination of the Jet Press and our food safe ink have been real game changers for Ebro Color’s business over the years. We are excited to be able to continue this long term partnership with Ebro and look forward to seeing what is next for them.”
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