OSAKA SEALING PRINTING CO., LTD. (headquarters: Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture, Japan; President: Yasunori Ogawa) and Epson Sales Corporation (headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President: Haruo Kuribayashi) on May 30, 2024 for the signing ceremony of an agreement on beta test collaboration for the next generation of SurePress.

The machine is a digital label printing machine that improves production efficiency and shortens delivery times for multi-product, small-lot printing, and is capable of high-quality printing while keeping costs down. The purpose of the agreement is to accelerate commercialization of the next-generation machine by conducting test operations, evaluating printing performance, and improving design based on the results. Osaka Sealing Printing will continue to promote printing automation by ensuring stable operation of the "SurePress" at each factory.

■ Past efforts with Seiko Epson and Epson Sales

In 2017, Osaka Sealing Printing, Seiko Epson, Epson Sales, and the three companies jointly launched a printing automation study team to realize the "OSP version of Industry 4.0". After that, Osaka Sealing Printing developed a workflow and production information management system for digital printing, and Seiko Epson and Epson Sales customized it to suit Osaka Sealing Printing's production system, such as automatic printing and color matching using that information, and simultaneous printing of processing information.

■ Operational status of "SurePress Water-based Press"

Since the first machine was installed at our Osaka plant in 2012, we now have a total of 40 "SurePress" water-based presses in operation across the country. This has improved production efficiency through unmanned printing at night and reduced the environmental impact of our manufacturing processes.

■ Signing Ceremony

The event was held at Drupa 2024, one of the world's largest exhibitions of printing equipment, held in Dusseldorf, Germany, on May 30, 2024. The participants from the three companies were OSAKA SEALING PRINTING CO., LTD..: President Matsuguchi Tadashi, Managing Director Hitoshi Muto, Seiko Epson Corporation: Executive Officer Tsuyoshi Yamanaka, and Epson Sales Co., Ltd.: Director Tetsumasa Morita.

■ Comment from Matsuguchi Tadashi, President Osaka Sealing Printing

Although the conventional model "SurePress" has issues with printing speed and maintenance, it can reproduce the colors that customers want by operating it unmanned at night and using a color matching system. However, not only our company but also our customers are facing a shortage of personnel, and they are looking for ways to complete their work faster and without stress.
Our company has taken on the challenge of "OSP's version of Industry 4.0" and has already completed partial optimization, but we still need to aim for "Industry 5.0," so we are looking forward to this new machine as our main equipment.

■Comment from Tsuyoshi Yamanaka, Executive Officer, Seiko Epson Corporation

During the beta test, it is essential to prove that the strengths of "SurePress" - high productivity, high image quality, and product stability - can be guaranteed. This agreement with OSP, a leading company in the industry, is a big step towards realizing our vision, and the entire Seiko Epson Group is committed to working together on this.

Comment from Tetsumasa Morita, Director of Epson Sales Corporation

As labor shortages become evident among our customers, "SurePress" has created an environment where people of all ages can work and can operate day and night, but productivity remains an issue. In order to expand the scope of solutions to the labor shortage issue, we would like to add the next-generation model, which has realized the much-requested speed increase, to our lineup.

■Osaka Sealing Printing Company Profile

• Company name: OSAKA SEALING PRINTING CO., LTD.

• Address: 1-8 Obasecho-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture

• Representative: Matsuguchi Tadashi

• 創業：1927年

• Business description: Manufacturing and sales of stickers, labels, film products, Carton Package, and sales of labeling systems

• URL: https://www.osp.co.jp/

■OSP Holdings Company Profile

• Company name: OSP HOLDINGS CO., LTD.

• Address: 6-8 Ajihara Honmachi Tennoji-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture

• Representative: Matsuguchi Tadashi

• Founded: 1969

• Business description: Business planning and management of the corporate group and related operations

• URL: https://www.osp-holdings.co.jp/

Founded in 1927, the OSP Group is a comprehensive packaging company with a total of 15 companies (9 domestic and 6 overseas), and has 18 production bases nationwide to fulfill its mission of social infrastructure, mainly food distribution. Since its founding, the company has expanded its business scope in response to changes in the times, such as customer needs and the social environment. Currently, the company provides products and services that enrich society and the lives of customers through the planning, design, and manufacturing of stickers and labels, Carton Package, and promotional materials. In order to achieve high quality and stable supply, the group also operates in a wide range of areas, from material procurement, development and manufacturing of sticker and label printing base paper and printing peripherals, to designing and research and development of labeling systems.