Hardware - Wide Format Print

Sign Wise UK Ltd has bought a new Mutoh ValueJet 1624 from Colourgen reseller, Random Choice Solutions. The machine will work alongside Sign Wise’s existing Mutoh printer, which it bought 15 years ago.  Sign Wise was the first company to purchase the new model when it was launched in January 2012.

Based in Reading, Sign Wise is one of the UKs leading sign creators, supplying various signs from exterior shop signs and point of sale materials to banners, safety signs and graphics for vehicle graphics. Although Sign Wise creations can be seen almost everywhere - including Sainsbury’s and Carphone Warehouse - the business mainly supply to other sign companies, and is virtually a trade-only supplier.

On purchasing the new Mutoh machine, Sign Wise's owner and managing director, Gerry Poulton, explains, “The business has been steadily growing this year and we have always found the Mutoh to be a useful printer. The theory was that we could run one job across two printers simultaneously. Of course, the reality was that the inks were different on the two printers due to the changes in ink formulations over the past 15 years. But it still means we have two excellent printers and we couldn’t function anywhere near as well without the ValueJet now.”

The new printer has enabled Sign Wise to take on extra work and means it can turn work round much faster. Since it purchased the ValueJet 1624, Sign Wise has bought four further printers and now has nine wide format printers installed.  Business turnover has increased by 25 per cent.

The new 4-colour, ValueJet 1624 (64") wide format printer appeals to established businesses as well as start-ups.  Incorporating Mutoh's proven design features, the printer has a brand new drop-on-demand printhead with 1440 nozzles to deliver stunning performance at up to 29m²/h as well as improved print quality at higher speeds. The ValueJet 1624 is targeted at the production of long term indoor and outdoor applications with Mutoh Eco Ultra ink.

Ottimo Digital has been awarded the contract to print the new rear livery for the RAC’s fleet of 1400 breakdown assistance vans on their new Epson SureColor printers.  The company, based in Newport, South Wales, has recently invested in two 64-inch Epson SureColor SC-S30600, four-colour, roll-fed printers, supplied by Epson distributor Spandex.

Within months of installing the machines, Ottimo was confident in taking on the large-volume, high-quality, last-minute jobs that the company would previously had thought twice about.

The key factor to securing the RAC contract was speed. Ottimo had completed rush promotional signage work for the RAC previously but they needed to turn this whole job around fast, in order to give themselves enough time to install the new signage to the fleet. The new livery was printed onto grey-backed self-adhesive vinyl before being applied to the van panels. With the extra capacity afforded to them with the two SureColor printers, the printing of the vinyl panels took about a week, whilst the installations took place over a period of six weeks.

Nick Lindwall, managing director of Ottimo Digital, comments, “We are delighted to have won this project to re-brand the RAC patrol fleet with the new rear livery. It has been an exciting operational challenge for us to be involved both in the print production of the vinyls and also the project management of the full installation.”

More details of the Digital Print UK show have been unveiled by organiser Faversham House with an exhibitor promising a UK first for the inaugural cross-industry event at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham between 5th and 7th November 2013.  LumeJet says that Digital Print UK, the new annual dedicated digital printing exhibition spanning three days at the UK’s premier exhibition venue, will be the ‘perfect opportunity’ to showcase its new printer and future business developments.

The show will be split into four focused areas – production, applications and output, wide format and digital labels – so visitors can efficiently spend their time navigating the event.

Digital Print UK will be the first public appearance in the UK for the new ultra-high resolution printer from LumeJet, the Coventry-based technology innovator.  Featuring its “revolutionary photonic printing technology”, the LumeJet S200 makes it possible, for the first time, to combine true photographic images with legible text and line art to create compelling output for marketing literature, photobooks and book jackets.

Miles Bentley, Commercial Director for LumeJet, says, “We chose Digital Print UK because it aligns well with our own aims, ambitions and progression as an organisation. By November, LumeJet printers will have been in the market for almost nine months, moving from beta sites to full production systems. Digital Print UK is the perfect opportunity to present a business case for the ultra high quality output achievable with LumeJet S200 printer.  It’s also an ideal showcase for the future developments we already have in the pipeline.”

Rudi Blackett, Digital Print UK Show Director, adds, “We’re delighted that LumeJet sees our show as the perfect opportunity to showcase its new printer and other business developments. I am sure that other companies will be planning other significant announcements at Digital Print UK, which will bring together senior-level delegates at the UK’s leading exhibition venue over three days.

“We’re seeing a growing confidence in the UK marketplace and continual demand for UK-specific print shows. The feedback we are getting is that exhibitors, both large and small, are now looking to niche events such as Digital Print UK as a key target market for sales opportunities and networking. We already have bookings from a cross-section of the supply chain.”

Europe’s largest photo service company is all revved up and ready for the Christmas season.  In early December, yet another swissQprint Impala large format printer went into operation at the CEWE plant in Germering near Munich (Germany), the company’s fourth swissQprint UV flatbed printer.

Next to the usual photo offerings, CEWE has offered large format prints in a variety of sizes since 2011. Inkjet technology is used to print UV-hardening inks directly onto acrylic glass, Dibond® and rigid foam panels. CEWE chose to go with Swiss printing quality from swissQprint. Their main plant in Oldenburg took the lead in acquiring a second Impala, now the company’s Munich operation has followed suit. All four systems are identically configured and hence deployable interchangeably. Of the nine colour channels on each machine, eight are in use for CMYK plus light Cyan, light Magenta and light Black for natural-looking skin tones, plus a white masking coat for application to acrylic glass. Furthermore, each machine is equipped with a roll-to-roll option for handling canvas and similar roll stocks.

CEWE's business takes off during the pre-Christmas season. The make-or-break factors are achieving the best possible picture quality, utterly reliable logistics, and meeting the promised delivery dates. In each case CEWE are the professionals, offering a colourful array of products that extends from photo albums, calendars and greetings cards for loved ones, all the way to large canvases and posters for style-conscious homemakers.

For more information, please visit www.swissqprint.com

Following its successful launch at Viscom Frankfurt in October, the MTEX500 - a 1.8m wide direct to textile production printer - has been added to Digital Print Innovations (DPI)'s product portfolio.

As a result of a Direct Technical OEM agreement with Mimaki, the MTEX500 is manufactured by POD in Europe and is available with disperse inks for polyester (sign and display market), reactive inks for cotton (apparel, fashion fabrics, home textiles), acid inks for silks and nylon (swimwear, fashion) and pigmented inks for mixed fabrics such as cottons, nylons, polyamides and polyester (home textiles, sun blinds, fashion and automotive). 

Stewart Bell comments, “We are delighted with the expansion of the MTEX Range.  The MTEX500 is a high quality production printer that will further cement DPI’s expansion into the direct to textile print market within sign and display and will move DPI into new markets such as home textile, upholstery and haute couture markets.”

The MTEX500 uses the Ricoh Gen5 heads producing variable drops in 4 or 8 colours with resolutions of up to 1200dpi and speeds up to 100m²h.
The MTEX500 features many ground breaking technologies but one of the main features is an Adhesive Belt System that drives the fabric through the machine, which is completely synchronised with the print carriage and suitable for the most challenging of fabrics, such as woven, circular and flat knits, non-woven, lycra and many more. The belt has a continuous wash and dry system during the operation avoiding ink contamination, dust, waste fibres and water marks.

Stewart Bell continues, “At DPI we are expecting a continued expansion in Direct to Textile production as it offers many benefits within the Sign and Display Market. As the MTEX3200 has had an impact as a complete solution, no calender required, the MTEX500 will also make an impact into the tradition textile market. DPI will be showing the MTEX500 shortly and will be exhibiting at Sign and Digital and also FESPA.  We will also make further announcements shortly including a New Website and partnerships.”

For more information on DPI or the MTEX500, please visit www.dpi-uk.com.

Fujifilm has added four new models to its recently launched Acuity Advance Select range.  The new models extend the versatility of the Acuity Advance Select platform by now including four, six or eight independent ink channels in two different flatbed sizes, with an upgrade path to allow for application and business expansion.

The Acuity Advance Select range is the latest in a series of next-generation UV flatbed printers that feature exceptional quality, improved productivity, and greater versatility, allowing them to be used for a much wider range of applications.

The four colour Acuity Advance Select HD4004 includes CMYK channels only, for applications where clear or white ink printing is not required. The six colour HD4006 model includes six independent ink channels with the first four configured for standard CMYK printing. Channels five and six can be configured in two ways for the maximum flexibility:

The clear and white ink channels allow print service providers to print on a range of non-white substrates and add a spot or flood coat ‘varnish’ effect in a single operation all on one printer. This extends the application versatility of the Acuity Advance Select machine and improves the efficiency with which these types of added-value effects can be achieved.

Two white ink channels can improve the density of white in a single pass, which can be particularly useful for demanding backlit applications. These two channels can be used in whichever configuration best suits the application, with the ability to change from Clear + White to White + White (and vice versa) on demand.

All Acuity Advance Select models have an optional roll media kit for printing onto any number of flexible materials. This simple-to-use option is incredibly versatile, allowing an operator to prepare rigid material on the flat bed while the roll media option is printing.

The printer also features additional vacuum zones, further reducing manual masking, together with new job handling capabilities for more complex jobs or those requiring multiple sets of prints, advancements which help to improve overall production efficiencies.

The Acuity Advance Select’s print performance is optimised by Fujifilm’s uniquely formulated Uvijet inks. These incorporate the company’s proprietary ‘Micro-V’ dispersion technology that consistently delivers wide adhesion, superb colour vibrancy and excellent durability in every print.

The introduction of these new models to the range extends the versatility of Fujifilm‘s Acuity Advance Select range, building on one of the strongest line ups of mid-range high performance UV inkjet printers on the market, with a clear migration path for printers looking to upgrade in the future.