Hardware - Industrial Print

A significant move in production criteria has resulted in SuperWide Digital investing for the first time in an EFI VUTEk GS3250LX Pro LED flatbed-roll-fed printer following nearly 15 years of experience working with wide-format printing machines from a range of different manufacturers. The North West England specialist trade supplier was looking for fast throughput on roll-fed and rigid materials, a highly opaque white ink, accurate colour and precision quality, with the inclusion of energy-saving LED curing being the catalyst for the purchase.

Growing steadily since 2000, primarily in the banner production market, but more recently into flatbed and soft signage segments, SuperWide Digital has always believed that to try and mix trade jobs with end-user orders can compromise clients. The company's successful structure is based on working within the industry providing display companies, exhibition specialists, and offset litho and screen-printers with a full range of graphics produced using the right technology and on the most suitable materials.

Although SuperWide Digital looked at other wide-format printers during its current investment phase, the VUTEk GS3250LX  Pro printer's LED curing sat perfectly in the company's drive to tackle energy costs and broaden production options. The 'cool cure' technology also enables heat-sensitive and difficult media to be printed, and the flexible inks and excellent adhesion have extended the range of materials that can now be used for different interior and exterior applications.

"The service proposition was very important to us, but the LED curing technology was the clincher in the end," explains Luke Drogan, business development manager at SuperWide Digital. "The ability to print onto heat-sensitive materials has proved very important to us since installation, as has the extreme flexibility of the UV-curable inks. The VUTEk GS3250LX  Pro will enable us to expand our business into new areas."

Drogan states that not only did the VUTEk 3.2m flatbed and roll-fed wide-format printer have the technology being sought by SuperWide Digital, but also EFI was more accessible than other companies. "Contacts are easy to reach within the hierarchy, and we've had visits from senior management which makes us feel valued," he continues. "This is significant to developing the relationship, especially with this being the first machine we've bought from EFI. It feels more like we've been treated as a long-term customer."

Moving into new markets is key to the continued growth of SuperWide Digital, and the addition of the new wide-format printer has already opened new doors with its versatility and cost savings. For example, the company can now output to very thin 120 micron film which would melt on a UV-curable machine using conventional lamps, and the adhesion and the flexibility of the inks means that jobs formerly produced on solvent-based devices can now be migrated to LED.

Other significant benefits noted by Drogan include the highly opaque white ink and overall throughput speed of the VUTEk GS3250LX Pro. Its greyscale technology is complemented by the Fiery® proServer DFE, with crucial rapid turnarounds now being achieved consistently.

Overall, the investment in the EFI VUTEk GS3250LX  Pro has upped productivity and quality for SuperWide Digital, with significant power savings realised by the printer's LED technology. "As part of our investment plan for this year we are tackling our energy costs, and the LED curing is a part of that, as is the replacement of our lighting with LEDs across the whole factory," Drogan concludes. "Between those two measures, we expect to reduce our energy bills for the year by £20,000."

Graphic Station has been busy breaking in its new Mimaki JFX200-2513 LED UV wide-format printer after its installation by i-Sub Digital this month, following its lightning-speed purchase of the first JFX200-2513 in Europe at Sign and Digital UK 2014 in April.

Graphic Station director Paul Fox arrived at the show in Birmingham before the doors opened, after working with i-Sub Digital's Emma Plant over previous weeks to find the ideal printer for the Romford-based business's needs.

After waiting for installation, the Graphic Station team has been busy testing it out with a huge variety of output, ranging from high-quality office signage to innovative retail branding to creative home décor.

"We've done so many different things," says Paul Fox. "We're working with an artist to print onto Welsh black slate, we've printed onto wood, MDF, acrylic and Dibond, produced promotional work for Arriva's London headquarters, working on branded cupboards for a national cake shop chain, taxi-cab signs – we've tried a whole range of materials and designs, with brilliant results."

Graphic Station is also looking to work with a local non-profit art group, to 'give something back to the community', he adds.

The Mimaki JFX200-2513 is a 2.4m x 1.2m LED UV flatbed printer with CMYK UV ink plus white, clear and primer options for imaginative designs and vibrant colours. It can produce superior output at up to 25sqm/hr onto substrates up to 50mm thick. Despite these market-leading features, the Mimaki JFX200-2513 is priced to be a markedly affordable choice for sign-makers and display producers.

"The Mimaki JFX200-2513 with UV ink can print onto a large range of substrates, meaning Graphic Station can be really inventive about what it offers its customers," says Andy Spreag, director of i-Sub Digital.

"We were thrilled to sell the first Mimaki JFX200-2513 in Europe at Sign and Digital UK 2014 – and the first machine of the show – so it's great to see the new owner put it through its paces with such energy."

Paul Fox says he now has his eye on the Mimaki UJF-3042 desktop printer with i-Sub Digital's exclusive Digi-Foil foiling system, offering the opportunity to diversify with packaging mock-ups, personalisation, decoration and endless other applications. Metallic, coloured, holographic and other effects, identical to traditional foiling processes, can be produced digitally in minutes with significantly less waste. "When I saw the UJF-3042 with Digi-Foil I was blown away by it," he says.

For further information on the Mimaki JFX200-2513 or Mimaki UJF-3042 with Digi-Foil from i-Sub Digital or to book a demonstration, please email info@i-subdigital.com or call 01536 415511.

PressOn, one of the UK’s leading large format digital printers, has wrapped an entire ship, HMS President, in a specially commissioned “dazzle” design, as part of the commemoration of the First World War.

To help mark the centenary of the First World War, 1418 NOW asked PressOn to wrap an entire ex Royal Navy warship, HMS President, in dazzle print camouflage vinyl. The HMS President’s design was created by European artist Tobias Rehlberger, one of the most respected European artists of our generation. A stunning video of this process made by David Kew is on YouTube. The ship is now berthed by Victoria Embankment on the Thames until February 2015.

HMS President is one of three surviving Royal Navy warships built during the war and served as a dazzle ship in the First World War. The inspiration for the design came from the famous glaring colours and jagged lines of camouflage created to confuse enemy U-boat captains. Before radar, the designs served to confuse the enemy and mask the outline, speed and direction of travel of the ship.

The Royal Navy employed artists to paint anti-submarine ships during the First World War and the geometrically patterned boats were a familiar sight when hundreds of shipping convoys left Britain’s ports. HMS President’s transformation has been undertaken to help people remember the role these ships played in the country’s wartime survival.

PressOn worked on the project in close collaboration with artist and design team on this extremely complex project, advising on materials and installation. The project involved printing on 2,000 sq. m of vinyl and was printed on PressOn’s HP LX 3000. The installation was extremely challenging in terms of logistics, involving 12 installers working at height. It took 10 days to complete. One of the greatest logistic to overcome was fitting vinyl to a ship in rising and falling tides with installers working on a small boat circling HMS President.

Co-Founding MD of PressOn, Andy Wilson said;

“PressOn were honoured to be asked to contribute to marking the centenary of the First World War and to work on HMS President. It was an unforgettable project to be involved in and one we are very proud of.”

When the famous Pantheon building in Paris was being restored in June 2014, the outdoor advertising cooperation JCDecaux Advertising and the Parisian municipal team in charge of events developed and installed more than 3000 m² of canvas both on the inside and on the outside of the building.

The project was sponsored by the 'Centre des Monuments Nationaux', which commissioned the design of the canvas sheets to JR, a contemporary and internationally renowned artist. He created a participatory work encapsulating the humanistic and universal values embodied by the Panthéon. It consists of more than 5000 portraits which were taken of visitors to nine national monuments, or uploaded to the project’s website earlier this year. The realization of the project required more than eight months of study and validations.

The canvas walls and the floor were printed at Agfa Graphics customer BS2i in France. JR’s installation covers the dome, the cupola, and the floor of the Pantheon. The visual on the floor was composed of more than 70 panels, which were printed on an Anapurna M2500 large-format inkjet printer from Agfa Graphics. Printed at the highest quality, all wishes of the artist were respected in reassembling his work.

 

Vehicle graphics specialist and general sign-maker Stewart Signs is the first company in the UK to invest in an EFI VUTEk 3.2m GS3250LXr Pro dedicated roll-to-roll wide-format six-colour printer, incorporating EFI's LED "cool curing" and greyscale technology. The Eastleigh, Hampshire-based business's decision came as a result of needing to upgrade its production capabilities to newer flexible ink technology and faster throughput while maintaining its 3M MCS Warranty.

Stewart Signs was formed 50 years ago and has progressed steadily from producing signs and displays using traditional skills, including screen-printing, through a series of roll-fed wide-format printers. Although the company manufactures a broad range of general signs and displays, it has become renowned for its vehicle graphics and liveries, a specialist market sector that demands the highest quality and excellent durability.

"Key to our decision with our latest wide-format printer was the ability to produce applications that meet the requirements the 3M MCS (matched component system) Warranty. The EFI VUTEk GSLXr 3M SuperFlex UV Ink guarantees the flexibility and durability we must offer our customers," states Tom Bates, production manager at Stewart Signs. "This performance is essential when producing vehicle and fleet graphics, where adhesion and elasticity of the inks are vital to the success of the end application."

For many years Stewart Signs has been using solvent-based wide-format printers for its wide-format production, realising that the move to UV-curable technology relied on the high levels of flexibility and adhesion essential when working with vehicles and specialist displays. Although quality and speed were also essential criteria, Bates was impressed by the power savings and overall green benefits from the VUTEk GS3250LXr Pro printer's LED lamps. Recent energy assessments carried out by FOGRA have revealed reductions of up to 82% when compared with equivalent mercury arc lamp curing.

"The combination of the versatility of the VUTEk GSLXr 3M SuperFlex UV ink, the power savings and the overall low cost of ownership has made the VUTEk GS3250LXr Pro the ideal machine for Stewart Signs in its transition from solvent-based production to more environmentally friendly printing," comments Simon Casajuana, territory manager UK South at EFI. "Vital to the company was the combination of productivity, quality and consistency, plus proven reliability and performance, and this dedicated roll-to-roll LED wide-format printer ticks all the boxes."

"At Stewart Signs we review new equipment, looking at overall effectiveness in terms of productivity, quality and consistency," concludes Bates. "The VUTEk GS3250LXr Pro won, but we feel EFI always offers one of the best in class. It's our job to make our customers look good and to make the process painless - we value suppliers that do the same for us."

The VUTEk GS3250LXr Pro is a dedicated roll-fed 3.2m wide printer that benefits from the latest LED technology, high flexibility inks, precision colour accuracy and superior output quality. It is part of EFI's growing wide- and superwide-format LED portfolio, which now boasts more than 250 installations world-wide.

 

 

Stunning Moroccan architecture reproduced on Inca Digital flatbed printer

With the opening of new markets, the events industry has significantly developed in the Mediterranean. Morocco-based exhibit display company Electroprint, (whose slogan is ‘Another Dimension’), showcased its capabilities at Dom&Event, the International Events Exhibition held in Casablanca.

Electroprint wanted to introduce a new way of making a large-scale, quality exhibit booth that could be produced quickly and installed easily. They decided to use white Reboard, because it is a strong, stable, printable, and environmentally friendly substrate.

When deciding what to build for the job the company took inspiration from their own country, referring to pictures of an old Moroccan city in the southern area of the country known as the “Kasbah”. In architectural terms, a kasbah was a place for the local leader to live, and a means of defense when a city was under attack.

They produced a small, complete medieval fortified city with typical Moroccan architecture, including towers and fountains, fitting a booth space of 9m x 9m (29 feet x 29 feet) with 8m (26 feet) height for the corner towers. With a traditional Moroccan design and architectural look, it came complete with tower lamps, arched entrances, ornate inside walls, ‘wooden’ furniture, and customary artwork on the walls. The company also worked from three-dimensional utilitarian ExpoPrint displays, desks, and literature holders - everything created from Reboard.

The principal challenge was to demonstrate that it was possible to produce and install a large booth including furniture and lighting in a very short period of time with a minimum of on-site logistical complications. For the job, they used an Inca Columbia Turbo digital inkjet flatbed four-colour printer. Electroprint used more than 1000 sqm (more than 10,000 square feet) of 16mm white Reboard printed in high quality mode in less than 2 days (including cutting and finishing). The high resolution of the printer gave Electroprint the ability to reproduce the characteristic textures and natural wall, wood and metal effects. The installation itself took less than one day to build, using only plastic screws to connect and mount the Reboard panels.

Electroprint demonstrated that it was possible to print and deliver, very quickly, a creative, high quality, ambitious display. They exhibited the display twice. Both times, they were awarded the prize for the most innovative booth as well as for the most environmental booth.

Their efforts also paid off with an Inca IDEAs award in the category of Display Graphics. Judges commented: “Wow, truly impressive amount of print. Full marks for effort and ambition.”