To invest, or not to invest? That is this week’s question posed by Peter French, Projects Manager at Chelmsford-based Signtec Signmakers, in his second ‘Your View’ article...
“I remember, about 6 years ago, attending a seminar held by a leading large format printer manufacturer when one of the delegates uttered the words 'All I Need is a 610 Plotter and a Gerber Edge' as we both stood watching a machine roll out 1370 wide print.
As we stood there, I asked him whether he was considering buying such a printer and maybe that’s why he was at the seminar. “No” came the prompt reply. “All my customers are happy with cut vinyl and I’ve got the Edge II if I need to print a logo or two”. We parted at that point. He wandered off back into his dream world and I continued to look in wonder at the capabilities of the machinery on show.
It was only about 8 years ago when we relied almost totally on a trusty 610 plotter. At that time, we were one of the few small signmakers in the area who had an Edge II so became the trade supplier for “full colour” work. About that time, we started to look at large format printing with solvent machines. Certainly we were starting to be asked for more elaborate graphics for vehicles and customers’ requirements for banners became more demanding. We invested in a moderate 1370 printer and, after about 10 rolls of material and 6 months, we became almost competent with it!
In 2008, we invested again, this time in UV print, buying an Agfa Anapurna M. At a shade over £70K, this was significant. However, the footprint of the machine is 7m x 4m! So add to this the storage of materials and enough room to manoeuvre a 3m x 1.5m alupanel, you are paying a sizeable amount in rent and rates just to have the machine standing there. Now, owning a flat bed changes everything. Materials are delivered by lorry on a pallet, a set of inks will clearout an average sign maker’s bank account in seconds and the waste materials will fill an industrial wheelie bin every day. The learning curve is steep. Although the “M” is a relatively dumb machine in microchip technology terms, it is mechanically complex and seems to have been designed by someone with more confidence in fluid mechanics than I have. The way it gets ink to a moving head is another wonder of the world. I always believed that the inventor of these machines built a prototype on the bench to demonstrate the concept, and the manufacturer simply boxed up the prototype without any rationalisation in design. That said, they work very well.
Despite all the above, our investment in large format printing has been a success to the extent that, at a conservative estimate, 70% of all our work is now print. Certainly, in some areas the flat bed makes us extremely competitive on price. Take Correx builders’ boards for example. Made from cut vinyl, it can take you half an hour to make one, whereas with the flatbed it now takes me 6 minutes.
As staffing gets more and more expensive, it makes absolute sense to invest in technology that not only speeds up the process of sign making for the Friday afternoon “can’t wait” customer, but also greatly reduces bench time and bench resources. If I could source enough full colour work to run 8 hours a day, I could produce £3,500 of work per day. And that is just one man with an Anapurna and a wall saw. The reality is that sourcing that amount of work even in the good times is extremely difficult. However, I am running at least 3 hours a day on a variety of materials and the time the Anapurna saves me I can spend looking for new customers and providing a better service for my existing customers.
Without doubt, buying into large format is not for the faint-hearted. Whilst the cost of entry explained by the salesman seems attractive, in reality this is just the start. The overheads and costs increase dramatically in areas such as maintenance, accommodation, materials, and inks. Then there is business continuity to consider. What are you going to do if the machine breaks down for a couple of days? Can you source print from somewhere else nearby to keep you running?
And one final word of warning: carelessness may cost you everything. There are 6 heads on the Anapurna - each one will cost over £2000 to replace and taking out a maintenance contract won’t necessarily cover you for damage to the heads. One upturned corner of a piece of dibond will rip apart all 6 heads in one pass of the print shuttle rendering the machine useless and likely to remain useless for several days whilst new heads are ordered. Poor maintenance can cause printing to fail, rendering a whole sheet of material wasted. These are complex machines which need care and understanding if you are to get the most out of your investment.
Would we have survived the last 3 years without a flatbed? I don’t think so. The capabilities, flexibility, increased product range, speed of production and reduced effort has underpinned the successful growth of this business substantially.”
About the author of this article: Peter French has been working in the sign industry for 9 years having spent a lifetime in IT. Specialising in kick-starting businesses, Peter worked in many diverse business sectors. For most of the time at Signtec, he has been at the forefront of large format printing with both solvent and UV technologies.
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