HL Display is in the business of helping its customers to create attractive and profitable in-store environments. With its solutions installed in 265,000 stores across 50 countries, it is a global leader in the development of innovative and sustainable solutions, creating a better shopping experience for people all over the world.
In the UK, HL Display's Harlow site acts as both a factory and regional distribution centre, predominantly for the UK market, but also for export markets in western and northern Europe. The addition of an Inca Digital Onset X1 supplied by Fujifilm to its product portfolio in January 2018, has boosted production speeds, improved quality and delivered significant time and cost savings.
"We already had an excellent working relationship with Fujifilm and Inca Digital prior to this investment, and a great appreciation of their combined technology, having installed an Onset S20 nine years ago." says Adrian Edwards, Production Director, at HL Display. "This relationship played a major part in the investment decision, as did the boost in production speeds and quality on offer from the Onset X1. Furthermore, we're very conscious that we operate in a fast-changing environment, so the scalability of the Onset X series platform gave us added flexibility other machines could not match, including the ability to boost output speeds, add ink channels and increase the level of automation.
"With the many challenges the retail industry faces, we wanted to ensure we were in the best possible position to respond to them," Edwards continues. "Being able to offer the latest products with relatively short lead times is increasingly becoming the norm, and this year we've seen a huge increase in the demand for print from one major retail customer in particular. There was no way our previous machine could have coped with such a rapid increase in demand. This was a major factor in our decision to invest in the Onset X1 and the machine was more than up to the task."
"The fact that the Onset X1 can incorporate two white channels was also very appealing and it has given us a real edge in the market. There are certain product applications where our only alternative would have been flood-coating using screen machinery. Now we are able use a one-step process rather than two, saving us valuable time and resources.
"We've seen a significant improvement in the quality of our print as well as an increase in output, allowing us to reduce the amount of work we sub-contract. We have also been able to standardise our colour profiling across all digital print machines, making our work process simpler and more cost-effective. With results like these, we can meet our customers' expectations and remain confident that we can always find a solution to help our customers solve their problems and create opportunities both today and tomorrow.
"I would not hesitate to recommend the Onset X1 to other businesses - the modularity of the system provides a platform that fulfils today's needs, while the option to upgrade enables you to cater for tomorrow's demands.
"Overall, Fujifilm was a pleasure to work with through the sales and installation process." Edwards concludes. "They are a global organisation at the forefront of print innovation and the support we were given was second to none, from the project planning and management, to the hand-over and execution. It all happened very seamlessly and we managed to comfortably achieve our target dates for the completion of the process. It was one of best installation processes I have been involved with."
Says Chris Broadhurst, General Manager, Fujifilm Graphic Systems UK: "We are delighted to see another Onset X installation in the UK and to hear about the fantastic results HL Display has already experienced as a result of this. It highlights just some of the benefits offered by the scalable Onset X platform and its ability to create new opportunities, even in some of the most challenging markets. We look forward to continuing to work with HL Display as its business continues to grow."
