Business - Applications

Coronation Street is one of the nation’s most loved television programmes. The lives of the residents of the cobbled street are discussed on television gossip pages and in living rooms up and down the country. Much effort goes into making sure the set looks as realistic as possible – from billboards and flyers posted on walls to packaging labels on items for sale in the Corner Shop. Lynsey Shepard is the programme’s principle graphic designer and is responsible for creating all these applications as authentically as possible, and her Roland VersaCAMM SP-300i printer/cutter has been crucial to ensuring the set’s printed materials are ready whenever the show’s demanding and fluid filming schedules require them.

The Roland was purchased and installed two years ago following a recommendation from another graphic designer who was familiar with Roland’s products. It is the first machine to be used by Coronation Street’s design team and Lynsey has been very impressed with the performance of the VersaCAMM and after-sales support received through the RolandCare service and support package. 

“I’ve been really impressed with our Roland machine. The majority of the material we print is on vinyl, as it’s far more practical to have waterproof labels and signage given the nature of this business. The print & cut function is excellent and saves so much time, and it’s very precise – even when cutting circles. We’ve had a couple of small teething problems along the way, but with the RolandCare warranty service we are able to call out an engineer to get us back on our feet again quickly.”

Keeping overall production costs down was another decisive factor in Lynsey’s decision to stop outsourcing and purchase the SP-300i, and the machine has already paid for itself many times over.  She continues, “We used to outsource our print jobs to a local printing company. While the quality was good, it was more expensive and really restricted our flexibility on set as if we needed something last minute we would either have to wait or reschedule filming around this. Having the Roland on site means we are now able to quickly re-print material for extra takes and ensure we can always keep up with the schedule.”

The VersaCAMM is a very versatile machine and is used to print a wide range of set graphics including those that are iconic to the soap from beer labels for the Rovers Return’s house ale, Newton and Ridley, or posters on the wall of the pub, to stickers on the door of the Corner Shop, signage for the taxis or a vehicle wrap for a courier van if someone on the street is due to receive a package, for example.

The VersaCAMM SP-i series comprises two models – the 30inch SP-300i and the 54inch SP-540i. One of Roland’s most popular printer/cutters, the machine delivers reliability and performance for a low initial investment. Available with a four-colour printing system, the SP-i series can be left unattended for long print runs leaving the user free to perform other jobs safe in the knowledge the Roland is managing the task in hand.

Lynsey concludes, “I’ve been a graphic designer for nearly ten years and I’ve witnessed a great number of changes in the industry over this time, many as a result of the technological advances companies such as Roland have made in the development of printers and ink. Print quality is certainly one of the biggest improvements I’ve seen. The vibrancy of the print finish from today’s printers is astonishing and the quality of the Eco-Sol Max inks with the Roland is brilliant.  What’s very impressive is there is really no compromise to bringing a machine in house. With the Roland we have a print and cut device on-site that is of the highest production quality and flexible enough to handle whatever is required of it.”

Rob Goleniowski, Business Manager - Sign and Graphics at Roland DG UK adds, “We are delighted Roland has a role in the production of Coronation Street! The SP-300i is an all-rounder ideal for these kinds of jobs - offering the user a fantastic, cost-effective, high quality finish and the space-saving benefit of having the printer and cutter in one machine.”

For more information on Roland’s VersaCAMM SP-300i, please visit www.rolanddg.co.uk/VersaCAMMSP

[photo (above) shows Mark Jones, Roland DG Technical Operations Manager, onsite at Coronation Street for a routine service visit and (below) signs, graphics and labels printed to appear in D&S Alahan's corner shop]

In one of its most unusual jobs to date, Tecna UK Limited has created a replica of a London bus out of T3 Fabframe for DJ Norman Jay MBE, a leading pioneer of house music.  The replica ¾ scale London Bus has now appeared at events around the world, including the Snowbombing Festival in Mayrhofen, Austria where Norman Jay was to be found on the London Bus half way up a mountain, playing to amazed partygoers.

Simeon Wicks, Managing Director of Tecna UK was delighted to be involved in the project, and comments, "It’s not everyday that we get involved in such a unique project as this one but jobs like these show exactly how versatile T3 really is.”

The T3 Fabframe London Bus is built using the patented T3 easy build “connect, twist and lock” system that doesn’t require tools.  The T3 frame is then clad in fabric graphics that attach quickly and easily to the modular frame.  Wickes explains, “Easy build was a really important factor in this job as the T3 Fabframe London Bus needs to be built quickly by different teams of unskilled labour in various locations.  In all it takes as little as two hours for two people to build the London Bus set for Norman Jay.”

When dismantled, the T3 Fabframe London Bus packs neatly and easily away into specially designed T3 storage bags and crates than can be easily transported and stored ready for the next big party.

Jonathan Evitt, Managing Director of Tecna Display Limited and inventor of T3, adds, "Once again, Tecna UK have really pulled out the stops and created an inspirational set that is an amazing showcase for the T3 display system.”

[photo shows Fabframe bus at Snowbombing Festival in Mayrhofen, Austria]

Kempton Park racecourse has undergone a graphics revamp. After taking on the creative brief, Andpol & Co worked closely with Kempton Park racecourse, based just outside London, UK, to design and specify completely new signage for the grandstand and winners podium.

A 72 metre sign, printed by Oasis Graphics Co. using CMYK plus spot white ink onto matte black aluminium composite panels, was installed across the front of the main grandstand on January 13th 2013. This extremely large weatherproof and light-fast sign now runs beneath the windows of the panoramic restaurant, furnishing the width of the entire grandstand with the Kempton Park logo and prominently advertising the dining venue above.

The winners' podium was also refurbished with new graphics designed by Andpol & Co and applied to the lectern, the front and back of the structure. The graphics were printed by Oasis using the same CMYK plus spot white on matte black process. The back of the podium was emblazoned with a large Kempton Park logo. At the front, the two side panels carried the Jockey Club logotype, and the central panel was filled with a repeating Kempton Park logo. The lectern carried a single Kempton Park logo front and centre.

Home to the famous King George VI Chase run every year on Boxing Day, Kempton Park racecourse has been a première venue for horse racing for more than century. Significantly redeveloped in 2006, Kempton Park caters to all kinds of events in addition to horse racing, and boasts a completely glass fronted panoramic restaurant situated over three tiers on the top floor of the Grandstand, with every table offering panoramic views of the racecourse and finishing straight.

Laugharne, Wales-based boutique hotel, Browns, has benefited from the digital print expertise of BAF Graphics together with the creativity of Juliet de Valero Wills, owner of de Valero Design, and interior designer Angela Bardino, to make its communal areas and individual bedrooms stand out.

Using sophisticated yet highly durable digitally printed wallcoverings that give graphics a “true art” feel, BAF Graphics has brought to life the images specially designed by Tin Shed Experience to help transform the fashionable location. The company decorated the reception area, conference and reading rooms, as well as 12 bedrooms, with personalised wallcoverings to give each space its own individual and refined touch.

“Browns Hotels is an iconic building which used to be the hang out of poet Dylan Thomas and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to show our skills throughout this interior design project,” comments Chris Holland, Project Manager at BAF Graphics. “We worked with unique imagery and we are sure that visitors will notice its exceptional quality when they check-in.”

Best Digital says it has been able to break into more profitable markets since the installation of its Screen Truepress Jet W1632UV wide-format printer.  The company first saw and ordered the world’s first Truepress Jet W1632UV wide-format flatbed printer at drupa in May 2012.

Despite only having the Truepress Jet W1632UV for four months, there has been a massive impact on the business with increased volumes and capacity, reduced staffing levels and more jobs being produced in less time. The new Screen printer has allowed the company to move into new markets.

Geoff Rawlings, co-managing director at Best Digital, comments, "We are now producing work at five times the previous speed and four times the quality we were achieving with the old kit."

“The small picolitre printhead delivers finer type and lines and we can now print anything from A5 car stickers, for instance, to 3.2m graphics,” he continues.

A major benefit to Best is the print speed.  At 100m2 per hour in its fastest mode, the Truepress Jet W1632UV produces high quality work on media up to 1,600 mm x 3,200 mm, with a maximum thickness of 48 mm.

“Our clients really like the machine. They appreciate the increase in quality and they receive their jobs very quickly now,” says Rawlings.

The Truepress Jet W1632UV printer has enabled them to handle longer runs with ease – 1,000 panels are very quickly run through the machine. To prove the point, Best has recently taken on a job for a major supermarket retailer for a 950-run double-sided 2.2 m x 0.7m banner, which is something it would never have taken on with its old equipment.

Investing in the Screen Truepress Jet W1632UV has moved the company into strategically bigger, more profitable markets and the increase in return business has made such an impact that Rawlings is already planning a second printer.

Danny Colegate, co-managing director, Best Digital, adds, “The successful formula for Best to drive growth further forward is investing in excellent quality machines, the ability to produce work accurately at the quality the client wants and at the right price. We can achieve all this with the Truepress Jet W1632UV.”

To see Geoff Rawlings and Danny Colegate talking about their Screen Truepress Jet W1632UV printer and to see the machine in action, please visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCn5LFxpr2U

When one of the UK's leading energy consultancy companies, BIU recently moved into its new corporate headquarters in St. Anne’s, Lancashire, it turned to P.P.S. to design and manufacture an innovative light box display.

The brief was for an illuminated display to run up the stairs from ground to top floor, be continuous and embedded into the wall and to be as
flush fitting as possible with the ability to easily change graphics.

All off the shelf solutions were ruled out as the overall run length came to in excess of 15m with the longest single piece being 3500 mm and where a specific height of 460 mm was also require combined with angled joins.  P.P.S.'s solution was to manufacture a series of slim light panels directly
out of 8mm thick edge lit acrylic, all angled and cut to shape so they could join together when recessed into the wall aperture.

These were lit by daisy chaining built in high intensity LEDs along the top and bottom edges of the individual panels to provide constant, bright
illumination across the display. Lengths of 28 mm wide snap rails were then custom mitered together to form a graphic aperture along the top
bottom and sides, mounted directly to the surrounding wall surfaces.

Blank semi rigid 2mm opal acrylic sheets were custom cut to match the the light panels and printed directly onto with the Agfa Anapurna flatbed
printer, providing very high resolution graphics that displayed the fine text of BIU's customer endorsement letters contained within the designs.

The final result was a very thin, very impressive illuminated display running up the staircase to BIU's top floor customer reception that impresses
everyone who arrives at the corporate headquarters.