Hardware - Industrial Print

Just six months after installing a new Screen Truepress Jet W3200UV HS, Portuguese printer ESAG has reported a 30% rise in business. The company is winning new clients, regaining former clients and has started exporting.

“We have to thank the new Truepress for a great start to the year,” says director Alexandre Soares, who runs the family-owned company alongside his sister Margarida.  “The machine’s combination of superb quality, high productivity and 100% reliability is exactly what we were looking for.”

ESAG, founded over 30 years ago, has always been owned by the Soares family and has a history that reflects the wider printing industry.  The company started out as a trade prepress house, equipped with a Screen SG-737 scanner and supplying film and plates to local offset printers.  Recognising that prospects were limited if they focussed on prepress alone, ESAG was an early adopter of digital printing, initially with sheet-fed presses before investing in its first wide-format inkjet press - a Screen Truepress Jet 2500UV.

“The Truepress Jet 2500UV was a major step forward for us,” says Alexandre Soares.  “We could offer clients really high quality print on a wide range of media, thanks to the press’s ability to print both roll-to-roll and on rigid stocks.”  He adds, however, that the success of the wide-format business brought its own problems.  “Basically, demand got so great that we were struggling to meet it — we needed a faster machine for longer runs.  Without one, we sometimes lost clients to competitors, even though they couldn’t match the Truepress’s quality.”

So the search began for a high-productivity, high-quality addition to the ESAG line-up — and began with Screen.  “Our first call was naturally to Screen,” says Alexandre.  “If they had a machine that met our needs we wouldn’t look any further.  The answer we got was perfect — a new larger-format Truepress was on its way.”

That printer turned out to be the Truepress Jet W3200UV HS, launched at Fespa 2014 with an output speed of 150sqm/hr on rigid and flexible media up to 3.2 x 1.6m in size and up to a maximum 50mm thickness.  “As soon as we saw the specifications and samples of the output we knew we’d found the right machine,” says Alexandre.

The Truepress Jet W3200UV HS was installed in January and was running two shifts within weeks.  “The machine has met all our expectations, and more.  We’re getting fantastic quality, and it’s been totally reliable — no downtime at all, despite running flat out most of the time.  Not only have we won new business, we’ve also won back some of the clients who went elsewhere.  And we’ve found an export opportunity that looks as if it could turn into something really good.”

The Screen Truepress Jet W3200UV HS is designed to print a wide range of commercial graphic work — short-run, high-impact sign and display work, including exhibition graphics and retail signage, posters, product decoration, architectural signage, backlit displays.

The press’s design incorporates a host of features that increase productivity and quality.  The newly developed printhead modules and Truepress UV inks combine to produce sellable, top-quality graphics at high speed.  Linear drives provide exceptionally smooth, controlled and accurate motion of the print carriage, while retractable lay pins provide fast substrate positioning to ensure accurate, repeatable registration, especially on double-sided printing.  The multilayer function enables perfect inline registration of up to eight independent image layers for sophisticated front/back overprinting of quality backlit and variable day/night graphics.

One of the UK’s largest producer of Point of Sale (POS) materials, SMP Group, has placed an order at FESPA 2015 for the new Onset R50i, the latest addition to the Inca Onset high-end wide format printer range.

Mark Turner, director of digital print at SMP Group, comments: “UV technology is at the heart of our digital print production. We embraced industrial flatbed printing 12 years ago and became the first company in the world to print with a fine picolitre drop size at industrial speed. We work with some of the largest retailers and brands in Europe and they demand the highest quality and accurate print results. The investment in the Inca Onset R50i is the result of an expansion project and part of our ongoing commitment to increase productivity, enhance quality and ultimately deliver the greatest value to customers.”

He continues: “We are always on the lookout for the most advanced printing devices that can improve our performance and the Inca Onset R50i will be a great addition to our digital production fleet. We are impressed by the perfect balance between speed and quality offered by the machine, and the 14 picolitre drop size delivers detailed, high resolution images. The 3.2 x1.6m bed will also allow us to lay and print three sheets at the same time, increasing our productivity.”

Mark concludes: “We are really excited about the investment in an Onset R50i as it will further enhance our market position and mark the beginning of a long partnership with Fujifilm and Inca Digital, as we expand our presence even further in the industrial print sector.”

Based in Woolwich, south east London, and with an 80 year printing heritage, SMP Group is a leading print provider to the retail market across Europe and has been consistently recognised for its work, winning many prestigious industry honours such as the POPAI and Print Week Awards.​

The Onset R50i wide-format flatbed UV printer features fine-drop 14 picolitre Fujifilm Dimatix Spectra printheads and eight channels (double CMYK configuration) to deliver superb quality and 600m2/hr productivity. The high-end flatbed device prints an apparent resolution of 1000dpi onto substrates up to 50mm thick.

[Photo caption: From left to right, John Mills, CEO, Inca Digital; Mark Turner, Director, SMP Group, and Dave Cull, Digital Business Development Manager, Fujifilm UK, on the Fujifilm's stand at FESPA 2015]

Top build quality and reliability were key reasons behind London-based Delta Display signing for a Durst Rho 512R roll-to-roll printer at FESPA on May 19th as part of a £3m annual capital expenditure across the group.

The investment will be installed at the Walthamstow group headquarters. Delta already has 89 devices – half of which are finishing systems – covering screen, litho and digital operations.  The new printer will add to the 350,000 sq ft print production capacity.

Martin Shipp, Group Operations and Production Director for Delta Display says:  “We invested in Durst because of the exceptional build quality and reliability, as well as the systems are fast and extremely efficient. The service and support are all great too.”

He continues: “The 512R roll-to-roll will help us to expand in new markets where we need high quality, large 5 metre capacity. There’s a growing market for fabrics and soft signage in the client base.”

Delta, which employs 610 people in the UK, purchased the Durst Rho 312R and Rhotex 322 print systems just over a year ago.

The Rho 512R features Durst Quadro Array 12M print head technology and droplet sizes of 12 pictolitre. It has a print quality of up to 800dpi and a maximum speed of 350 square metres per hour. It can also process three 1.6 m rolls at the same time.

Peter Bray, Durst UK Managing Director, adds: “With extremely tight deadlines to meet and a requirement for exceptional quality, companies such as Delta increasingly rely on Durst’s market-leading technology to produce reliable, high volume and extremely high quality products that we’re delighted to be supplying.”

[Photo caption - From L to R: Durst UK Managing Director Peter Bray, Delta’s Martin Shipp and Durst Sales Manager Matt Ashman at the signing on the Durst stand at FESPA.]

Flyeralarm, Europe's largest online print provider, has purchased a fully automated EFI VUTEK® HS100 Pro high speed press. The new press will allow Flyeralarm to expand the superwide applications in its portfolio of online services. 

"The new VUTEk press will replace two machines from another manufacturer we currently have in use," said Flyeralarm Werbetechnik general manager, Igor Zanovskiy. "We chose the HS100 Pro based on its full automation, its flexibility in terms of handling roll-to-roll as well as flatbed work, its speed and its unsurpassed white printing. For a machine that will be used 15 hours every workday, we also took into consideration EFI's technical support service and response times." 

Launched as a sole trade business 12 years ago, Flyeralarm became one of the leading online printing companies in Europe. With headquarters based in Würzburg, Germany, the company has five production sites around Würzburg and Dresden. Flyeralarm prints everything from high-gloss magazines to posters. With almost 350,000 customers and an average of 15,000 orders per day, it has become the largest online printing company in Europe. Some of Europe's best-known advertising agencies are among its customers. In addition to the online shop, Flyeralarm has a store in London where customers can discuss projects, place orders or pickup orders they've placed online.

[Image shows (from L to R) Flyeralarm Werbetechnik general manager, Igor Zanovskiy and EFI senior vice president of worldwide marketing and sales Frank Mallozzi]

EFI announced that Wissinger GmbH, based in Freudenstadt (near Stuttgart), Germany, has purchased its fourth VUTEk printer and second VUTEk GS5000r superwide printer.

A pioneer in large-format digital printing, Wissinger has become a leader in the German-speaking market by delivering high-quality printing and services. The company produces a wide variety of applications for retail, trade shows and events, interior decoration, and outdoor advertising.

To enable further growth, Wissinger recently moved to a new and larger facility, which provides ample room for the company's newest investments.

According to Peter Schulz, Wissinger's managing director, the VUTEk printers have contributed to the success of his company. "Our decision to buy another VUTEk GS5000r was based on our experience with the first GS5000r. The quality and throughput is exceptional. We also value the service capabilities and our overall partnership with the EFI team," he said.

"Wissinger is a model for growth in a highly competitive market," said managing director of EFI EMEA, Paul Cripps. "We are pleased to be a part of the company's success. EFI is dedicated to helping our customers take the necessary steps toward continued growth and profitability."

The VUTEk GS5000r is a five-metre, roll-to-roll printer with dual resolution of true 600 and 1000 dpi.  Eight-colour and optional white ink print capability produce near-photographic quality, printing POP quality at speeds up to 88 m2 per hour. Standard multi-queue functionality enables printing of different images on up to three rolls simultaneously. The printer is switchable to Fast-4™ mode, which prints outdoor graphics up to 260 m2 per hour. The printer's output is backed by the 3M™ MCS™ Warranty when combined with flexible EFI VUTEk GSr 3M™ Premium Ink and select 3M flexible material.

[Picture (from L to R): Ken Hanulec, vice president of marketing EFI Inkjet Solutions; Karl Gerd Amerongen, territory manager EFI DACH South; Paul Cripps, managing director EFI EMEA; and Peter Schulz, managing director Wissinger GmbH.]

ATG Spectrum can now print graphics up to a massive 3.2m x 20m thanks to its new Mimaki JV5 320S grand-format printer from i-Sub Digital, ordered at Sign and Digital UK 2015 and installed at its Letchworth headquarters.

Exhibition stand expert ATG Spectrum chose the Mimaki JV5 320S solvent printer primarily for its size: with 2.75m the minimum height for a show stand in Europe, the extra width provided by the 3.2m machine will allow full-height graphics to be printed in one piece, increasing the impact of the finished stand and ease of build.

The company began as an exhibition stand design and build specialist, but eight years ago brought the printing stage in house as digital technology became cheaper and demand increased. The Mimaki JV5 320S, housed in an expanded factory space, will run alongside its existing wide-format outdoor printers.  

"We'd seen the smaller Mimaki JV5 160S printer at Sign and Digital UK two years ago and were impressed by its speed and quality," says Mark Reed, Managing Director of ATG Spectrum. "But with more customers now demanding full-height graphics we opted for the larger 3.2m machine – especially when you consider the price/performance it offers. As well as being able to cover a whole exhibition panel in one go, we'll use the Mimaki JV5 with PVC, Polycril and Artex media amongst others for a range of other displays.

"Plus, the speed will be phenomenally faster than existing machines so our turnaround will be much quicker."

He adds: "We also like the cartridge-based system of the Mimaki JV5 – rather than bulk containers, you can just insert the cartridges into the machine and off you go – and the smaller footprint of the roll-to-roll design. We already had to expand into a new factory space so a flatbed wasn't an option!"

Following a visit to another Mimaki JV5 320S user to see it in situ, Mark Reed ordered the machine at i-Sub Digital's stand at Sign and Digital UK in March.

"Even though the Mimaki JV5 320S wasn't on show at Sign and Digital UK this year – it really is too big a machine – we were able to give Mark Reed all the information he needed," explains Andy Spreag, Director of i-Sub Digital. "Every sale we make at industry events is brilliant but this is particularly exciting as ATG Spectrum definitely has some big ideas about how to make the most of the Mimaki JV5 320S's size."

ATG Spectrum has already booked its first order: 225sqm of graphics for one of its existing exhibition contractors. It is now offering its grand-format services to selected trade.

The Mimaki JV5 320S prints onto uncoated media such as banner, vinyl and mesh at up to 1,440dpi with prints offering water and UV resistance for up to three years. The machine also features an automatic cleaning system, intelligent pre, print and post heater system and automatic head height and media feed sensing for automated operation.

For more information or to book a demonstration of Mimaki wide-format print technology, please email i-Sub Digital at info@i-subdigital.com or call +44 (0)1536 415511.