Brake Parts Inc. (BPI), a global automotive aftermarket supplier, has installed a Landa S10 Nanographic Printing press. The new B1 digital press is being used to print 80% of the company’s 10,000 SKUs. Eliminating holdups for color and make-ready, according to BPI, the Landa S10 has made it possible to create high-quality products at the lowest production costs for the company.
Installed in October 2023, the Landa S10 is housed in BPI’s Ciudad Juarez, Mexico plant. Since moving short- to medium-run jobs to the Landa press, BPI has been able to re-utilize its offset presses to improve overall plant productivity by three times. This has enabled the company to reduce costs, be more responsive to market opportunities, and better meet the challenges of the global economy.
Claudio Saenz, vice president of operations, BPI, says, “Over the last few years, production growth and an increasing variety of SKUs made a new printing platform necessary. While we will continue to produce long runs on three offset presses, it was clear that we needed a flexible solution that could support faster turnaround for a wider variety of run lengths – but, without sacrificing the color quality customers are used to. After evaluating several digital printing options, we chose the Landa S10.”
Saenz adds, “Since installation of the S10, a big change for us is not having to run jobs according to color. Because changing inks is time-consuming, organizing by color used to be a cost-effective way to schedule traditional press runs.
“However, because of our confidence in the Landa’s image quality – no matter what colors are being run and how many changes there are – we can now gang jobs by shape, which is much more efficient as it enables us to get many more jobs on a sheet. And crucially, it does this with very little waste or time between jobs either, significantly increasing production efficiencies.”
Engineered for B1 (41 inch/1,050 mm) format, the Landa S10 Nanographic Printing press offers more opportunities for agile production and value-added services. Powered by nanographic printing technology, the Landa S10 prints at a continuous speed of 6,500 sheets per hour on any off-the-shelf paper and cartonboard, in thicknesses from 1.6 to 32 pt. (40-800 μm). It includes a double delivery unit for highly efficient sorting of multiple short and medium runs.
Recently, Landa Digital Printing has launched the S11 Nanographic printing press, the successor of the S10 press, encompassing all upgrades of the platform along with optional modules for increased productivity and AI capabilities.
