FULL-COLOR SOLUTION FOR SMALL QUANTITIES

The family business Frantoi Cutrera is located in the territory of Chiaramonte Gulfi, in the heart of the Hyblaean Mountains in Southeastern Sicily. For generations the family cultivates oil with love and dedication. In July 2011 Frantoi Cutrera purchased the CX1200e Color Label Press and the FX1200e Digital Label Finisher.

The oil mill and its history

The family business Frantoi Cutrera is located in the territory of Chiaramonte Gulfi, in the heart of the Hyblaean Mountains (Monti Iblei) in Southeastern Sicily. For generations the family cultivates oil with love and dedication. In 1979 Mr. Giovanni Cutrera founded the mill that since 2000 is managed by managing director Salvatore Cutrera along with his sisters Maria and Giuseppina. For many years the company is internationally known for its high production quality and has won many of the most prestigious competitions: Gold Medal Los Angeles 2005, 1st place "Golden Lion" of the 2004 Masters, 1st place "Festambiente" 2004 Grosseto, 3 olives in the Slow Food Guide 2003-2005; 1st place "Oliario Hercules".

The problem of labels

Due to the prestige of the oil produced by Frantoi Cutrera a production volume of about one million bottles per year has been reached, which is almost entirely directed to the foreign market. Before implementing the Primera system the production of all product labels was entirely handled by an outside supplier, which today is still used for very large label quantities.

This generated higher inventory costs and an enormous waste of unused labels because these labels were either in excess, obsolete or incorrect. Moreover, the long lead times caused delays in shipping of Frantoi Cutrera's products to their customers. Waiting for labels also meant always working in a "state of emergency" without opportunity to change or react quickly to any mistakes.

Full-colour solution for small quantities

To solve this situation it was necessary to find a solution for printing full-colour labels on rolls, allowing them to be more flexible and independent in the production of small label quantities.
In July 2011, after careful evaluation, Frantoi Cutrera purchased the CX1200e Color Label Press and the FX1200e Digital Label Finisher – Primera's professional label production solution – from Primetec Ltd., DTM Print's Italian distributor.
During the interview Mr. Salvatore Godano, Cutrera's production manager, said: "Today this solution is used mainly to print the back labels as those are produce more jagged. Our oils are exported to 34 foreign countries. Further to that customized labels are requested frequently from our clients."

Applications and opportunities

With the CX1200e Color Laser Press hundreds, or a few thousands of labels can be printed always correspondent to the momentary production needs. In addition It's possible to create sample prints for new products and above all Cutrera can meet the demand for personalization of all their clients.
"We chose Primera's CX1200e because it offers an unequaled print quality and with the FX1200e finishing system we can realize any label size and shape in a precise and fast way," said Godano. "Primetec's technician installed the machines and took care of the training. The training was held a couple of days putting us in the position to immediately use the machines. Once you become familiar with the system It's easy to use," and he continued: "Currently we produce about 10,000 labels per month. The material that is used for our labels are matte, glossy or laid paper, white or beige, depending on the product type. We expect to increase the monthly production volume soon due to activities for third parties or because of our new product lines that are introduced to the market."

Choice of investment and cost

When talking to managing director Salvatore Cutrera about the economical part, he said: "The investment was made in view of accelerating the label availability and then consequently the whole product shipment and to reduce total cost of producing small label quantities. This allowed us to better meet the demands of existing customers and certainly allowed us to win new ones."
He continued revealing that: "In particular, we are introducing a new line of canned food for which we intend to use the best CX/FX combo system to produce all the new labels. On top of that the time needed until the amortization of the system will be reduced, too."

The printing cost of an individual label produced by a digital color laser printer for label rolls might be not the most economical if you look only at the price of one single label, but the overall production of small quantities is as fast and as flexible as never imagined before, resulting in considerable time and cost savings. In the end the value of all accrued benefits is higher than the cost of the supported printing technology.