ENVIE

The Challenge

Industry: Food Production | Product: Pro1050 | Location: Anderlecht, Belgium

As an ethically-driven business that pro-actively addresses the issue of food waste and promotes job creation, enVie is focused on product quality, cost-efficiency, and waste reduction.

A young start-up, the company is also refining its workflows and identifying areas where operational efficiencies can be created. One of the areas of the business that needed refining in terms of waste and cost savings was label printing.

Each bottle of fresh soup that the social enterprise creates requires an eye-catching label to communicate the quality, freshness, and health benefits of its contents. However, enVie’s existing process entailed ordering pre-printed labels from a local print shop and adding variable information, such as expiry date and batch number, using a thermal printer.

“From the first day OKI’s Pro1050 was installed, we started printing our colour labels. Our project started with 20,000 litres of soup and with the support of the public we collected funds to produce 70,000 litres of soup! With our new printer we have complete flexibility to print colourful labels for both Robin Food and for our enVie soups.”

Naomie Smith, General Manager, enVie

The quality of the labels supplied by the local print shop were quite standard and the variable information that enVie added using the thermal printer was of poor quality. Furthermore, enVie struggled to manage the stock of printed labels which were supplied in many different layouts. This resulted in wasted funds in the form of unused labels in the stock room as well as disposing of printed labels that are no longer required. 

In reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, enVie, alongside various other organisations, launched the ‘Robin Food’ project to transform food surpluses into healthy sustainable foods that are made accessible to vulnerable people and families during the crisis. This created a greater and more urgent demand for labels.

The Solution

OKI’s partner Tasco invited the enVie team to their showroom where they were given a demo of OKI’s Pro1050 Label Printer. “After seeing the demo we were convinced that a colour label printer like OKI’s Pro1050 could help us find the flexibility and quality we needed for our labels” says Naomie Smith, General Manager, enVie.

“Tasco was able to deliver OKI’s Pro1050 to our production facility, prepare it to produce 20,000 labels, and train our operators to use it. This was all done superfast in just a couple of days!”

OKI’s Pro1050 is designed to handle bespoke inhouse label printing on-demand. Using digital LED and dry toner technology it brings a new colour dimension to label printing, providing a fifth colour or ‘CMYK+1’ option. The printer would enable enVie to perform short-run label printing on-demand from a single label to thousands a day. This enabled the correct volume of labels to be printed for each batch of soup, reducing the need to store or dispose of surplus labels. The minimal training required is an additional advantage for enVie as print jobs can be set up in minutes as each new team member is recruited following a period of long-term unemployment.

The Benefits

“From the first day OKI’s Pro1050 was installed, we started printing our colour labels. Our project started with 20,000 litres of soup and with the support of the public we collected funds to produce 70,000 litres of soup! With our new printer we have complete flexibility to print colourful labels for both Robin Food and for our enVie soups.” says Smith. enVie can now print all its labels from scratch without having to order specific quantities from the local print shop that would eat up funds in the form of printed labels that are stored or worse still wasted. enVie’s members can simply select the relevant print file using the NiceLabel software and print as many labels as they need using OKI’s Five Colour Label Printer.

As the variable information including the expiry date and batch number are generated automatically by the software, these are included on the printed label. This makes the process of applying labels quicker as the additional thermal printer is no longer needed. Furthermore, the quality of the variable information is improved along with the overall quality of the printed label.

Whether enVie’s soups are moving through its production facility, being transported or stocked by retailers, or used by consumers, the labels need to be robust enough to withstand exposure to different elements such as moisture and sunlight. OKI’s Pro1050 can produce robust labels that are resistant to water and UV fading, protecting the branding and important information such as use by dates and the list of ingredients on every bottle.

“As the printer can print 9 metres a minute, we can get the labels out very fast! Especially on the COVID-19 project, we gained a lot of time when having the design ready, we could start printing immediately. Normally we would have to send the design to the print shop, wait for the proof and wait again for the delivery of the printed labels.”

Naomie Smith, General Manager, enVie

The addition of OKI’s Pro1050 has also enabled enVie to experiment with different label designs and layouts. “As you start from a blank label and a minimum volume of one, any idea or request on design is possible, and in a very short time,” says Smith “As the printer can print 9 metres a minute, we can get the labels out very fast! Especially on the COVID-19 project, we gained a lot of time when having the design ready, we could start printing immediately. Normally we would have to send the design to the print shop, wait for the proof and wait again for the delivery of the printed labels.”

OKI’s Pro1050 has been instrumental in helping enVie make a social impact with the ‘Robin Food’ project which achieved coverage in both the local and national press. “A couple of days ago, the King of Belgium skyped with us and our co-workers to get to know our project and to support us” says Smith.

The Future

enVie has been able to increase production output, label quality and reduce wastage and costs thanks to the implementation of OKI’s Pro1050 Label Printer. As and when enVie expands its operations, OKI and Tasco will be ready to provide assistance, recommendations and resources to scale up the social enterprise’s printing capabilities.

“After seeing the demo we were convinced that a colour label printer like OKI’s Pro1050 could help us find the flexibility and quality we needed for our labels.”

Naomie Smith, General Manager, enVie