GFI Ink Dispensing System drives precision for impressive results at Colbert Packaging Corporation
- Published: March 14, 2025
Colbert Packaging Corporation has a long history of satisfying customers. With the importance of color management ranking high in decisions made by brand owners today, Colbert’s association with hubergroup and GFI Innovations is having an impact.
For more than two decades, Colbert has partnered with hubergroup to be supplied with a series of vibrant inks and coatings. GFI has contributed for nearly as long, saving Colbert time and money at their facilities in Elkhart, Ind. and Kenosha, Wis. with its innovative and patented AccuBlend HV dispensers for conventional ink blends.
“Color management is a critical aspect for most of our customers. They value the benefit of having our color matching capabilities,” remarked Cory Holland. He has worked at Colbert for eight years and has served as the printing manager in Kenosha since 2023.
“The GFI dispensers were purchased for their efficiency and quality control. They save our spot ink formulas and automatically dispense the appropriate amounts for each of the mixing base inks. It is a significantly more efficient process than hand weighing each element of the spot color formula.”
The two patented GFI AccuBlend HV formulation dispensers have proven to be valuable commodities for Colbert. They were supplied and managed for a long time by Alden & Ott Printing Inks, who served as Colbert’s supplier until hubergroup acquired the company’s assets in 2017. hubergroup is recognized as one of the world’s leading printing ink specialists and raw materials manufacturers.
With one dispenser stationed at each of Colbert’s Elkhart and Kenosha facilities, the flexibility of these machines has improved color consistency performance while reducing labor, ink prep and press time. Holland indicated the dispensers have also helped eliminate ink waste and decreased disposal fees.
“Our print run lengths range from 250 to 250,000 sheets, and the GFI dispensers are good for projects of all sizes. They operate at a high speed so, from start to finish, we can have mixed spot color in approximately 10 minutes,” said Holland, who noted their manufacturing facilities house RMGT and Heidelberg offset printing presses, and CPS and Mark Andy flexographic presses.
Holland said the GFI dispensers have helped support Colbert’s sustainability commitment to environmentally-friendly paperboard packaging and corporate best practices. In 2022, the company introduced One Clean CartonÒ, where paperboard is the foundation using CandesceÒ CIS SBS to ensure only virgin fiber is present with no mechanical pulp in a middle ply. The composition provides superior performance on press, resulting in less waste and low consumption of raw materials, as well as water- and agri-based inks to support sustainability and recyclability.
“We mix ink batches as small as one pound up to 100 pounds. Having the ability to mix all of our inks in-house allows us to have full control of the quality of our spot colors, including those projects involving One Clean Carton,” remarked Holland. “When an adjustment to a color needs to be made, we can do it before production by using the swing color tool in the GFI software program. It make the adjustment and saves it in the memory system for future formula mixes.
“These dispensers,” added Holland, “also give us the ability to mix inks on demand. This allows us a shorter turnaround time because we do not have to wait for the inks to be ordered, mixed, matched and delivered, which adds to the efficiency of our process.”
Holland mentioned the longevity of the dispensers is impressive and, when needed, he knows he can count on receiving timely help from GFI service technicians.
“These are the original machines that were installed. We have updated the software over the years, but we have not made any other upgrades,” he remarked. “These machines are very user friendly and all of our operators have learned how to use them. Once the formula number is entered, you just hit the start button.
For more information, call GFI at 847-263-9000 or visit the website.
“We probably talk to the GFI service department monthly. When we reach out, they will normally respond quickly. Our ink technician has a great relationship with our GFI service tech, so he will call or text and have a response usually within minutes.”
