As with most manufacturers of capital equipment, the global pandemic and all that it has involved regarding travel restrictions, has forced Martin Automatic to innovate ways of working to keep its customers satisfied. Testament to the superior design of the company’s equipment, which makes it relatively straightforward to commission, is a recent installation in Malaysia.
Mega Label, which began life as a small print shop in Johor in 1987 with one printing press and six employees has grown to become one of the country’s major players in the narrow web market, with a variety of letterpress, flexo, digital and screen presses and a staff of more than 200. Today, the company supplies labels to the food, pharmaceutical, clothing, and health care sectors from its modern 6,000sq/m plant. In 2011, the company opened an additional production facility in Selangor, Malaysia to cope with increasing demand and to shorten delivery times, and in 2012 set up a plant in Cambodia to fulfil the growing demand for textile labels.
Mega Label is a very people-oriented company, and the Management Team works hard to create a safer and better workplace for its staff. One of the keys to the company’s success has been its policy of personnel development, which provides training for every member of staff and creates at atmosphere that is conducive to positive working attitudes and an efficient working environment. Group General Manager Edmund Chan explained: “Our target is to improve efficiency by replacing the unnecessary heavy work of our operators with automation, and in this sector of the market there is no better manufacturer than Martin Automatic. Their non-stop systems de-stress our operators by managing reel changes of material, allowing them to focus on other important tasks. This is a great boost for morale”
The first Martin Automatic technology at Mega Label, which was installed in 2018, was an MBSC non-stop unwind/splicer and an STR automatic transfer rewinder, fitted to a 10-colour Gallus ECS 340 press. The Martins had an immediate impact on productivity and waste levels, according to Mr Chan. “We save around 5-10% of material and 5-10 minutes per roll change – and these make significant contributions to productivity and therefore profitability,” he said, adding “ and it also has a beneficial effect on the environment.”
So effective was the Martin Automatic technology that Mega Label decided to order a second set of MBSC/STR machines in 2020 for their latest Gallus press, another ECS 340 – the only problem was that the Covid-19 pandemic has spread worldwide by then and travel had become virtually impossible. Never to be beaten by difficult logistics, Mega Label and Martin Automatic technicians set about creating a plan that would see the new equipment installed and running in commercial production in super quick time.
To ensure all practical details were covered, a pre-installation video conference was arranged to review all drawings and instructions so that both parties were comfortable with their respective tasks. Travis Yang, Martin Automatic’s Regional Sales Manager for Asia explained: “Mega Label’s engineers are very competent, and we had our technicians on stand-by throughout the installation. The fact that it all went smoothy and quickly speaks volumes for the functional and pure design of Martin equipment, which combines a robust working capability with easy handling.”
With the global pandemic continuing to disrupt normal business practices, Martin Automatic is working to develop its remote support service further and will shortly be releasing installation videos to assist customers in locations that cannot be visited in person. Established in the US in 1958, Martin Automatic technology can be found in commercial production worldwide, and across a variety of industries. With a European office in Germany, and Asia Pacific covered from Taiwan, the company is aware of its responsibility to a widespread list of users, all of which depend on the durability and reliability of its equipment to keep production lines running.
If there is a positive to be drawn from the pandemic it’s the increased use of modern communication technology that is allowing companies to keep their customers satisfied – even remotely!
