MGI announces the 1e AlphaJET sold in France to ISRA, a printing company based in the Drôme region
ISRA is going to fully optimize the production flow of its printing activities, by equipping itself with the very first Digital Printing Plant 4.0.
For ISRA, a manufacturer and printer of smart commercial media, whose factory is based in Romans and has 90 employees, the year 2022 will certainly be placed under the sign of Industry 4.0.
This industrial cooperative, which is active in the packaging, smart card and chip card markets for retail, transport, authentication and access control, has invested in the first AlphaJET 4.0 factory of the French manufacturer MGI Digital Technology.
The AlphaJET is a groundbreaking innovation in industrial printing, integrating for the first time, in a single pass and using a 100% digital workflow, all the stages of four-color printing, UV selective varnishing and hot foil stamping, with fixed or variable data, in 2D and 3D, in a B1 format (72x110cm).
ISRA: a DNA marked by Printing and Innovation
By equipping itself with MGI's AlphaJET, ISRA confirms both its attachment to its core printing business and its development strategy, which has always focused on innovation and differentiation. Two values that have always been the strength of this SME. In fact, this investment is part of a 5-year innovation plan that forms part of the "France Relance" initiative.
Among ISRA's latest innovations is the creation of the all-new first "zero plastic" card ISBIO has made a name for itself among the major luxury brands and prime contractors, thanks to its eco-responsible approach and fully recyclable paper. In this context, the acquisition of a AlphaJET appeared to be a logical continuation of ISRA's innovation strategy, according to its Managing Director, Jean-Pierre Chauvin:
"ISRA is a highly specialized company, with in-house expertise in all printing trades, including offset printing, screen printing, digital printing, hot foil stamping, printed electronics and security printing. These different skills enable us to offer high value-added products, in terms of print quality, personalization and finishing, whether conventional or incorporating contactless technologies. Today, manufacturing our products generally involves 5 main stages. The AlphaJET will enable us to simplify the production flow and free us from certain printing constraints, without breaking loads, without waste and without wasting time, with unrivalled productivity impossible to achieve with conventional equipment".
ISRA: a fully optimized production workflow with the AlphaJET
The implementation of the AlphaJET will clearly represent a technical revolution for ISRA, as Christophe Jouinot, President and Production Manager, explains:
"Until now, the use of different equipment to produce our packaging and cards has resulted in incompressible production times, minimal volumes, and even the management of semi-finished products. The AlphaJET will enable us to increase our reactivity, but also our quality, thanks to exceptional four-color printing on a large number of substrates, in photo quality, and perfect registration of varnish and hot foil stamping. Freed from various production disruptions, we'll be able to offer very short production lead times, on all types of print runs, with eco-responsible, high value-added products".
Eco-responsible productions
While ISRA plans to capitalize on the eco-responsible positioning of its AlphaJET production, Gaëtan Courthial, ISRA's Sales Director, also sees it as a development tool:
“ AlphaJET will enable us to improve both the service we provide to our customers and our efforts to make our products more environmentally friendly. First of all, we're going to be more responsive, but we're also going to be able to significantly improve the carbon footprint of our products thanks to reduced waste (production losses) and lower consumption of solvents and electricity. The de-inkability of certain substrates and MGI's varnish are also assets in meeting customer expectations for increasingly eco-responsible products. Finally, we're counting on the multiple possibilities offered by AlphaJET to address the new markets we're targeting, such as smart packaging and printed electronics."
An investment validated by a team of experts
For Edmond Abergel, CEO of MGI Digital Technology, the process of validating the acquisition of the AlphaJET, specific to the ISRA printing plant, confirms the very relevance of the AlphaJET's Factory 4.0 concept:
"During our initial discussions with the ISRA teams, we were surprised by the very strong innovative DNA that carried the company's dynamic, and by its implementation by a team of experts in conventional technologies, very different from each other: offset, digital, screen printing, hot foil stamping, printed electronics... At the end of an in-depth testing and trial process, it was these experts who validated the acquisition of the AlphaJET. We're very proud that experts in conventional trades have validated the concept of the digital 100% Factory 4.0 that is the AlphaJET".
In December 2021, ISRA signed the order for its AlphaJET, which will be installed in April and May 2022.
