The four, 1.5m-wide devices, specified with the Onyx Thrive RIP, were installed by CWE Solutions at the end of last year.
Two of the Latex 260s, formerly labeled as the HP Designjet L26500, were installed at Colorset’s circa-900sqm Nottingham headquarters, adding to the site’s existing raft of wide-format equipment including Océ Arizona, Mimaki and Canon printers.
The other two printers were installed at the £3.5m-turnover company’s 405sqm facility in London. The devices were installed in London as a replacement for two Roland DG wide-format machines, according to managing director Tom Phelan.
He said: “We decided on the HPs because of their green credentials with their water-based inks. It’s our way of doing our bit for the environment but they are also much more of a production tool for us. They give us greater capacity to cover all jobs and backlit is a huge thing for us – this will enable us now to do that sort of work in London too.
“They are just a superior quality of machine all round and they complement our other equipment really well.
“By having two at each site it means we can split jobs easily and meet faster turnaround times in both locations,” he added.
Phelan said that having the same production facilities at both sites helped create consistency for its UK-wide campaigns, with Nottingham delivering installations from Birmingham up, and London serving the rest of the country.
Colorset also has customers in Ireland, Holland, Germany and Spain, as well as new business in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
Phelan said: “International retail companies with London headquarters want their graphics to be the same the world over, and we can deliver that for them.”
The business, which employs around 40 people across both sites and 13 installers, has also invested in three vans bringing its fleet of vehicles to seven.
On top of the £58,000 investment in the new HP devices, Phelan said the company was nearing completion of a showroom in Bermondsey Street, London Bridge to showcase products that it is offering through newly established sister company Motion Advertising Technology. The business focuses on technology such as moving graphics that can turn windows into double-sided video screens, explained Phelan.
“Using a layer of vinyl infused with 10,000 shards of glass, clients can project images from in-store and stream live content, turning 2D into 3D and even 4D. It can even be adapted for touchscreen," he said.
“We’ve been investing in R&D for around a year now. We’ve been tweaking products, such as point-of-sale units that can float and videobooks, and making them bespoke to our industry. We’re going to be able to offer an Aladdin’s Cave of new stuff, which will be a combination of conventional 2D products with 3D and motion," Phelan added.
