The printer, which was launched at Fespa earlier this year, was installed at the end of May. It joined another Jetrix flatbed at the business, a 2513.
According to Bex managing director Ian Board, prior to the LX5 being installed the business had felt the strain of being a single-press operation.
InkTec approached Board with the offer of being the first in the UK to install the LX5 after its Fespa release. It should increase Bex's capacity by 50% per shift.
Board said: “We’d been looking to get a second machine in for a while really since we got rid of our Mimaki. Just having one machine was always a worry, things go wrong, especially when you’re on the quick-turnaround-time side of things.”
The LX5 can print at speeds of up to 39sqm/hr on a variety of different media, taking sizes up to 2.4x1.2m. It comes with CMYK plus white and an added varnish option.
According to InkTec, the LX5 delivers a 35% energy saving over a mercury lamp printer. Board said he was pleased with the added environmental impact this would bring.
He said: “It’s massive for us, we’ve got solar PV panels here already. Many of our clients are 14001 registered so they look for us to lower our impact the best we can and it’s something that I’m keen to do for ongoing running costs as well.”
Board said he also liked the quality and fast curing time of the ink, and that this Jetrix is at least a third faster than the old Mimaki. He emphasised that having one printer for such a long period of time had been a difficult ask.
“We were doing additional shifts on one machine and found it hard, really hard. We’ve also had an extension on the factory and have put more investment in the cutting arm of the business. We’ve run the 2513 so hard so it’s just a relief to be able to almost halve its workload."
Bex is currently in the process of completing a job for a large UK beer company, printing onto high impact PVC, which will then be applied to 13,000 beer pumps.
It employs 40 staff in its 2000sqm premises in Calne, Wiltshire. Current turnover is £2.3m and Board says it is on course to beat its 4% forecasted increase for the end of this financial year.
