中文In 2010, two people with a vision and a single digital press started a label printing business in Brisbane. Fifteen years later, that business is approaching $40 million in group sales, employs around 85 people, and has just invested $20 million to transform itself into a serious player in flexible packaging.
That’s not a startup story anymore. That’s a blueprint.
From Labels to Flexibles: The Logic Behind the Leap
Co-founders Scott Springett and Ross Fursey built Ultra Labels & Flexpack on a clear philosophy: do digital better than anyone else, move faster than the competition, and charge a premium for the quality and responsiveness to justify it.
That model worked for labels. But watching their clients order labels for bags and pouches, the obvious question surfaced: why not make the whole package?
“We were already seeing customers putting labels onto bags and pouches,” Springett told Print21. “The obvious question became: why not make the pack itself?”
The move into flexible packaging wasn’t impulsive — it was a deliberate expansion that required both patience and a willingness to commit at scale. Fursey is direct about the entry requirements: “This is not something where you dip your toe in. You go headfirst.”
$20 Million Worth of Conviction
The latest phase of investment at the company’s Eagle Farm, Brisbane headquarters includes three major equipment additions: an HP Indigo 200K digital press for flexible packaging, a Nilpeter FA-26 wide-web flexo press, and an HP Indigo V12 for labels.
The Nilpeter FA-26 runs at up to 250 metres per minute and is designed to move Ultra into longer-run flexible packaging work — the volume territory that was previously out of reach for a digitally focused operation. “We can now do the longer-run jobs that were probably off limits to us before,” Fursey says. “That gives us access to bigger markets, and it helps us drive down unit costs.”
The HP Indigo V12 replaces two HP Indigo 6K presses on the label side. Springett describes the performance uplift as dramatic: the V12 can deliver equivalent output in a fraction of the time, while maintaining digital consistency across run lengths from 1,000 to 100,000 impressions.
“The same quality, whether they order 1000 or 100,000 — that’s the point,” he says.
Building the Infrastructure to Support Quality
The investment extends beyond press equipment. The business runs HACCP processes for flexible packaging production to support clients in regulated sectors — food, nutraceuticals, healthcare, cosmetics. AVT inspection systems run throughout the plant, and the company’s stance is straightforward: nothing leaves without camera inspection.
That level of quality infrastructure isn’t cheap, and it’s not optional for the markets Ultra is targeting. Brands in regulated categories have compliance requirements that filter out suppliers who can’t demonstrate documented quality control.
The Market They’re Targeting
Ultra’s flexible packaging ambitions focus on sectors where digital printing’s core advantages — short runs, fast changeovers, SKU flexibility, on-demand production — are most valuable: wellness, nutraceuticals, healthcare, food, and cosmetics.
These are markets where packaging changes frequently, run lengths are often modest, and getting the product wrong carries real consequences. They’re also markets where premium shelf presentation matters, and where brand owners are increasingly looking for local supply partners who can respond quickly.
The company currently runs a roughly two-thirds labels to one-third flexible packaging split. Both founders expect that ratio to move toward parity as the new equipment comes fully online.
“I think now we’ve grown up,” Springett says. “We’ve got the people, the balance sheet strength, the confidence in the market, and now we’ve got the tech.”
Source: Print21
