The Leicester-based business, which has 25 staff and a turnover of £1.75m, bought the printers from I-Sub Digital. The company will primarily use the machines, which were installed in July, for commercial jobs including POS graphics and prototyping.
“We were waiting for the available space and also for the quality to get to a level we were happy with. We work at the premium end of the market and with a lot of cosmetic brands so the quality was key,” said creative director Ben Millard.
“We used to outsource our direct print as we used to run mainly roll-fed machines in-house. The new flatbed enables us to print on a wider variety of materials up to 50mm thick and opens up a much wider market.”
The firm also considered the Durst Omega 2 while researching the market but found the Mimaki JFX500-2131 to be the best fit for its requirements.
“We are quite experimental with materials and ideas so this machine ticks all the boxes. We have basically added another arm to the business and almost doubled our production capabilities,” said Millard.
The JFX500-2131 has a maximum print size of 2.1x3.1m at speeds of up to 60sqm/hr with CMYK and 45sqm/hr with CMYK plus white ink.
The overall cost of the firm’s investments was over £300,000, which included the two Mimaki printers, a Kongsberg i-Cut cutting table and the acquisition of a new unit next door to its existing premises to accommodate the new machines.
“We also launched a new website and social media to coincide with this and took on a dedicated print operator to run the machine. We are due to take on another print operator so we can run 24 hours and we also took on three new members of staff to strengthen the design team,” said Millard.
The Mimaki JV400LX roll-fed latex printer features six colours plus white (CMYK, orange, green and white) and prints dry off the machine ready for finishing. The firm will use it to produce bespoke custom window displays and large POS installs for its blue-chip commercial customers.
“The Mimaki JV400LX's big colour gamut with vibrant orange and green adds another arm to our service. We can now print a wider colour gamut and denser colours, which is especially good for backlit materials,” said Millard.
"Most of our deadlines are the same day and every customer requires their jobs on time whether it's a one-off print or a large project over numerous substrates. By investing in the new machines, we have twice as much extra capacity guaranteeing that we can continue to deliver a high-quality product on time to all of our clients."
