Located in Mississauga Ontario, Spectrol has been printing quality labels for 30 years. It started with one Gallus R160 and continued with the Gallus line as the company grew because ownership liked the quality and the support that Gallus provided. According to Ray Kapoor, founder and owner, his “staff at that time were quite fond of the Gallus press quality. So when we needed a second press, we ordered another Gallus, then a third Gallus, and then a fourth.” The latest press on the floor is the Gallus ECS 340 the “rock press.”
“We only have one non-Gallus press,” continued Kapoor, “a Codimag, which is an offset press. It’s a very high end product but it runs very slowly so we can’t really be competitive in the marketplace with it.”
Like so many others, Kapoor was introduced to the Gallus ECS 340 at the Chicago Labelexpo Show in 2012 where Gallus was demonstrating the rock press that the company had been promoting since its launch in 2008. He had seen the prior demonstrations as well. He started talking with the Gallus sales team at the show and afterward, but then took an unexpected medical break for several months. In February 2013, Kapoor and Gallus struck a deal and the new press was delivered in May.
The new Gallus ECS 340 press came with 10 colors, auto-register and a foil station and started running almost right away. “We have been very, very happy with the quality that comes out of this press,” stated Kapoor. “And the versatility -- we can print films. We can print labels, and everything. The web is so short, at 80 feet or so, we can set up the whole job in one pass. It’s a very short web.”
According to Kapoor, the press runs at a very good speed, the quality comes out great and the registration is excellent. He has been “very, very pleased with the acquisition,” in spite of some early apprehension about the granite base. Those questions turned into positive attributes once the press started running in his shop.
“It is so quiet that if you stand in front of the press, you don’t see any vibrations, you don’t hear any noise, and it’s just plain process. There are no vibrations at all. These are some of the features that have made it such a good acquisition.”
Kapoor says that the native registration of the press is so good, they don’t use the auto-register feature when printing labels. They use it when running film and shrink sleeves. Spectrol still runs a 20” Gallus EMS 510 S equipped with auto-register that they purchased a few years before the ECS 340, and they can change jobs from one press to another with no difference in quality.
Spectrol continues to run several older Gallus presses, including a R200 letterpress and a 16” EM 410. “So, you know, we are basically a Gallus house,” reflected Kapoor proudly.
On the ECS 340, Kapoor summed: “It’s economical. It runs good. It runs fast. Setup is quick. You know, we get it in registration in 80 to 100 ft. Minimum waste. Economical, basically.
And the Gallus support staff has been extremely helpful. The technical service guys are very good. We’ve had great support from Gallus all along.”
Would he consider buying another ECS 340? “Oh, absolutely, whenever I have the need.”
Would he recommend an ECS 340 to others? “Oh, absolutely. But not to my competitors.”
“We have been a happy family and have had great success with Gallus products.” On the acquisition of Gallus by Heidelberg and their combined efforts on the new digital platform, Kapoor reflected, “Ah, you know Gallus and Heidelberg, putting technologies together, it should be good.”