“Ultra-Chem Inc began serving the Midwest in 1987 with just two employees. Today, they have more than 175 employees and offer industrial chemicals worldwide with a product line of over 300 items. Ultra-Chem formulates, manufactures, and ships its products with a goal of ‘quality products that perform.’
The company works with the Afinia Label DLP-2000 mini digital label press powered by Memjet technology. The digital label system is capable of 
printing, laminating, die-cutting, removing waste, slitting, and rewinding. It prints and finishes labels up to 30 feet per minute at 1,600x 1,600dpi. ‘We liked the way that it worked in conjunction with the printer. A continuous flow from beginning to finished product,’ says Neal Hutchins, print manager, Ultra-Chem.
For Hutchins, the move to digital over analog processes was a fast transition that happened naturally. ‘Due to the large quantities [of labels] that we produce in a day, digital was really the only option. We never even considered anything else,’ he shares.
Ultra-Chem uses the DLP-2000 to create sticky-back bottles (sic) [labels] up to eight by eight inches and box product labels on demand. Hutchins says that printing on demand saves Ultra-Chem from purchasing large quantities of labels up front. ‘This way, we don’t have rolls of labels sitting around turning yellow or getting damaged. It is also cheaper for us to design and print our own labels in-house,’ adds Hutchins”
Originally published in Industrial Print Magazine 01/2017.
The Afinia Label DLP-2000 is ideal for companies that wish to print and convert their labels inline. It is also a good fit for organizations that have an existing inventory of Rotometrics®, or similar, 12″ magnetic dies.
As mentioned in the article, the DLP-2000 has a run rate of 30 feet per minute. This equates to printing approximately 57,000 4″ x 6″ labels during eight hours of operation. It is possible to print and finish over 1MM labels in a single month.
