“We had color drifting across substrates and a maddening blank label between each print,” says Marta, Production Engineer at a mid-sized label converter in Northern Europe. “We needed a path we could execute in weeks, not an endless overhaul.” Early in the project, the team ordered small test batches through printrunner to gauge artwork behavior across different labelstock before committing press time.
The procurement team did their homework—reading printrunner reviews and asking, bluntly, is printrunner legit? The answer they reached was pragmatic: sample runs were useful, but real control would come from shop-floor process changes. This is the story of how they combined Digital Printing for short-run agility with a flexographic press for volume, and why the smallest sensor setting turned out to be the turning point.
Company Overview and History
The converter started in 2008 servicing regional Food & Beverage brands with pressure-sensitive labels and paperboard inserts. Today, they split production between a 7-color flexographic line (UV-LED Ink, inline Varnishing and Die-Cutting) and a mid-format Digital Printing press for Short-Run and Variable Data. Typical substrates include Labelstock, PE film, and occasional PP for chilled products. Their aim is practical: consistent color, reliable registration, and predictable lead times that suit seasonal and promotional runs.
They operate under EU 1935/2004 and EU 2023/2006 for food-contact packaging and use Fogra PSD targets in prepress. The production team manages 15–20 changeovers per week, with artwork supplied by clients or developed in-house. For quick mockups, marketing sometimes leans on a consumer-grade color printing label maker to preview size and hierarchy—useful visually, but never a substitute for press proofs or calibrated workflows.
Before this 12-week push, First Pass Yield (FPY) hovered around 75–80%. Waste rate sat near 12–15%, fluctuating with substrate lots and ink batches. These aren’t outliers—just the reality of juggling mix-and-match SKUs. The team decided to tackle two fronts at once: color control across Digital and flexo, and the nagging blank-label prints that were eating time and patience.
Quality and Consistency Issues
Color accuracy was the first friction point. ΔE would sit under 2 on coated Labelstock but drift toward 3–4 on PE film when humidity and press temperature shifted. Registration was fine; the bigger story was ink-substrate interaction. On the flexo line, UV-LED Ink performed well, but viscosity shifts during longer runs nudged hue. On Digital, profiles were stable yet didn’t carry perfectly across textured stocks. It felt like we were chasing moving targets rather than driving the process.
The second friction point was more visceral: a blank label spitting out between prints on the semi-automatic applicator downstream. Operators would ask, how do I stop a blank label printing between each label? Most cases traced to gap sensor thresholds and pitch definitions. When the label length in the device driver didn’t match the die-cut pitch—or when the black mark detection was too tolerant—the system advanced the web as if a gap had been missed.
Numbers told the story. On varied lots, scrap related to misfeeds was 3–5% of total waste, part of the 12–15% we mentioned earlier. With better sensor calibration and clearer pitch data, the team believed they could push misfeed scrap toward 1–2%. Color control, they aimed for ΔE mostly in the 1.5–2.5 band across label families. Not perfect—PE still had its moods—but tighter and predictable.
Solution Design and Configuration
They chose a Hybrid Printing approach: keep Digital Printing for short-run SKUs and personalization, and anchor long-run labels on the flexographic line with a tuned UV-LED Ink set and a consistent anilox strategy. Prepress standardized ICC profiles per substrate family and tightened tolerances in the RIP. On Digital, they validated color against Fogra PSD targets, logged ΔE nightly by SKU, and set a practical acceptance window: most lots within 1.5–2.5, exceptions documented when films behaved differently.
On the blank-label issue, the fix was both software and hardware. In the applicator’s driver, they matched label pitch to the die-cut length precisely, disabled any default “feed after print” behavior, and lowered the gap sensor threshold from ~1.8 mm to ~1.2 mm—just enough to detect the die-cut separation without over-triggering. Operators now confirm black mark detection per roll, not once per job. For quick layout checks, marketing stopped relying on cd label printing software free download for production measurements; it remained a mockup tool only, with all press-critical data locked in prepress templates.
Lessons Learned
Let me back up for a moment and address the exact question operators kept asking: “how do i stop a blank label printing between each label?” Here’s what finally worked on our floor: define label pitch in the device driver to match die-cut length; turn off any auto-advance or “feed after print” settings; tighten gap sensor thresholds (we landed at ~1.2 mm, but your stock may vary); verify black mark detection for each new roll; and, if continuous stock is used, ensure the cutter’s timing aligns with the print length so the system doesn’t assume a missing mark.
On color, success came from constraints, not magic. We limited substrate variability per job, standardized UV-LED Ink viscosity checks, and synced anilox selection to ink laydown targets. Digital stayed On-Demand with Variable Data and short batches; flexo took High-Volume. FPY moved into the 88–92% range over stable weeks, and changeovers on the flexo line went from ~45 minutes to about 30–35. Waste settled nearer 7–9%, with misfeed-related scrap trimming down to around 1–2%. These are ranges, not guarantees; PE still has its off-days, and seasonal humidity can nudge the numbers.
Here’s where it gets interesting: the smallest tweaks—sensor thresholds, driver pitch, and mark verification—saved more time than any big-ticket upgrade. Based on insights from printrunner’s work with multi-SKU brands, we kept mockups lightweight and production data rigorous. If you’re reading printrunner reviews or wondering is printrunner legit for samples, our take is practical: sample where it helps confirm artwork on real labelstock, but plan your press control around standards and measurements. We’ll keep leaning on calibrated workflows, and yes, we’ll still call on printrunner for quick test batches when deadlines bite.
