Accurate efficiency

10 MACHINERY UPDATE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
News
To lease or not to lease? can
be the question when coding
The lack of forthcoming
finance from banks
will continue to have
a significant impact on
the levels of investment in
packaging machinery over
the next five years – more
so than any one other factor
according to over half of those
who participated in a survey at
interpack last year.
And at the same time, the
lack of credit being made
available is driving other
changes in the industry.
Production efficiency has
never been more important as
manufacturers scrutinise the
on-going cost of ownership
while striving to maximise
the output of packaging lines
using equipment that would
once have been upgraded or
replaced as a matter of course.
Yet manufacturers still
ultimately reach a point when
there is the need to replace
old equipment or secure
new, more advanced coding
and marking technology for
instance, not only to meet
regulatory requirements
but in order to cope with the
highly demanding, modern
production environment.
COST FORECASTING
Predicting what equipment
will be needed in the
future can be complex
for manufacturers and
consequently any accurate
forecasting of costs is also
a real challenge. Today,
Markem-Imaje is finding
that the reduction in capital
expenditure budgets and an
increased focus on running
lines at maximum output is
driving customers away from
outright capital purchase of
coding and labelling systems.
Instead customers want to
be able to plan their on-going
costs and quite rightly, they
want a guarantee that their
equipment will perform at
Coding companies are offering purchasing packages similar to other industries such as IT and office equipment
the highest level and operate
consistently throughout
its lifetime. “This is what
underpins the Markem-
Imaje Smile programme – an
asset finance package that
challenges the industry’s
status quo,” says Martin
Bailey, Markem-Imaje UK
operations manager.
Smile means that instead of
purchasing equipment outright,
customers are buying the latest
equipment that is guaranteed
to work as promised along with
consumables and servicing
that will optimise product
performance and minimise
downtime over the equipment’s
lifetime. The package covers
all parts and anything classed
as a ‘wear part’ is proactively
replaced at the manufacturer’s
recommended intervals.
The additional benefit is that
the cost will be spread over the
life of the equipment for a single
all-in, regular monthly or
quarterly fee.
Similar purchasing packages
have become de rigueur in
other industries such as IT and
office equipment – marking
and coding equipment
purchased through Smile can
be upgraded in just the same
way as an office photocopier
can be at the end of the
agreement’s term.
TAILORED PACKAGES
The Smile programme can be
used to procure any Markem-
Imaje equipment, from
continuous inkjet to laser and
thermal transfer technologies
and it can be tailored to
suit both large businesses
and SMEs. With the option
to include Markem-Imaje
networked systems, it is also
possible for any equipment
issues to be controlled
centrally and dealt with
immediately by trained coding
and marking equipment
specialists.
Linx Printing Technologies
says the financing options
for its range of equipment
offer customers flexibility in
acquiring a new asset
whether this is an essential
replacement or additional
equipment to cope with any
upturn in production demand.
“Strain on our customers’
capital equipment budgets
grows every year and they
have to make hard decisions
on what to spend this budget
on to give the greatest return,”
says Padraig Finn, head of
sales & service for Linx UK.
“Our leasing options enable
companies to acquire brand
new printers without using
their capital equipment budget
to give them the scope to
invest in other projects, while
gaining all the efficiency and
volume benefits that will
come with a new Linx product.”
Linx offers two main
financing options: Linx
EasyPay provides a brand new
Linx printer with no immediate
capital outlay and predictable
monthly payments; and Linx
CompleteCode is the company’s
all-inclusive coder, service and
consumables offering.
T 0161 333 8555
W www.markem-imaje.co.uk
T 01480 302100
W www.linx.co.uk