Mark Andy reports record turnout and a press sale after the latest stop on its Digital One Roadshow series. February 20 and 21 the Digital One was demonstrated for Charlotte-area converters and was the 14th iteration of the event since its conception in 2016.

Digital One takes the “stress” out of going digital. These press-shaped stress balls were some of the many goodies given to attendees.

We partnered with the Print Science department at Central Piedmont Community College to host the two-day event. In turn, students were given time to learn about the CMYK toner press, Mark Andy Inc., and the digital printing market. Many were new to the hybrid process, and the hands-on demonstration with Digital One provided invaluable education opportunity.

The theme for the 2019 Digital One Roadshow series is “Class is in Session”. Expect to see us make a pit stop at a local college near you. Have a suggested area? Let us know in the comments.

Teresa Piepmeier, a student in the program had the following to say about her experience:

“I was so excited to have an up close and personal experience with the Digital One. It means a lot to me that a huge company is willing to come to visit with us as students and to see the industry really cares about us and what we’re doing after graduation. My experience has been fully flexographic, but to see the merge between digital and flexo totally makes sense. It’s the best of both worlds that a product can be printed so easily and efficiently. I just really appreciate that Mark Andy came in and took several opportunities to show my class the future of print.”

Building on Piepmeier’s commentary, the Mark Andy Digital One is the first of its kind: a small footprint, easy to use, and affordable hybrid digital-flexo label press. Unlike tabletop solutions, the Digital One includes all elements to produce a finished label in a standalone piece of equipment.

Justin Green gives students the low-down on Digital One and hybrid printing.

Attending the event was Justin Green, Product Manager- Workflow & Business Analytics, Mark Andy. Green is a proud alumnus of Central Piedmont Community College and also served as our former Digital Sales Manager for the East Coast. Given his transition to a product leadership role within Mark Andy’s Front End Solution team, the manufacturer used the Charlotte Roadshow as an opportunity to also introduce partners to Alexander Mercon.

Industry partners also stopped by the event to see the press in action and connect with the team. Pictured left to right: Alex Mercon, Mark Andy, Ann Schippers, Wink, Dreana Hemick, Wink, Jerry Henson, Mark Andy

As Digital Sales Manager, Mercon supports the East Coast and comes to Mark Andy with over 15 years of experience in the packaging industry, 11 dedicated to digital. Mercon shares “Mark Andy is a true label and packaging company with a long legacy of high-quality solutions. The entire suite of hybrid technologies from Digital Series to Digital One gave me multiple reasons to promote Mark Andy. Digital is revolutionizing and Mark Andy, bar none,  is the best solution as partner and technology.”

The printing department at Central Piedmont Community College has been in operation for 56 years, with over 45 students completing the program and entering the industry workforce or continuing onto further schooling in the realm of print. 11 student jobs were versioned on the press on a white BOPP and utilized 4 color digital process to print. In addition to student art, Mark Andy printed a short run job that made use of inline cast and cure embellishment and die cutting at 62 fpm.

Digital One toner provides durable, vibrant digital print and is BS5609 certified for industrial drum applications.

The cherry on top for the event was the Digital One demo unit being sold to a local converter in attendance, going directly to their Charlotte-area shop for install. “Mark Andy started these events in 2016 as a launch plan for Digital One and received such positive feedback we never really stopped. Small business owners have a hard time stepping away for a few days to see a demo and we find bringing these technologies to their region helps cut the hassle associated with investigating digital. It’s a small convenience, with major impact.” concludes Mercon.