The Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales company serves the construction and property markets, with clients including Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey. It also provides a full board service to over 120 local estate agents, which the Arizona is predominantly being used to service.
"We were looking for something that would improve the range of services we can offer. Previously we might have had to outsource some work, with the addition of the Arizona we can produce everything in house," said managing director Terry Veale.
Veale added that the company was initially only looking to secure funding for a 20% deposit from Finance Wales to complete a five-year lease on the Arizona, but the RDA offered to finance an outright purchase with a loan for a "six-figure sum".
"I wouldn’t exactly describe it as a pain free process, but when you take into consideration the amount of money, I would like to think that if you’re fully prepared with all the information then it’s a fairly straightforward process. It’s probably no worse than trying to get bank funding to be fair, and I don’t think I would have got a 100% loan from a bank either," said Veale.
He added the whole process took around 10 weeks.
The Finance Wales funding came from the organisation's £150m Wales JEREMIE fund, which aims to encourage investment amongst Welsh micro and small businesses.
The Arizona 460XT features six ink channels, including white ink, and is capable of 21m/hr in production mode. It can handle rigid media up to 2,500x3,050mm and 50.8mm deep or rolls up to 2,190mm wide.
The Arizona is 1st Signs & Graphics first flatbed machine and prior to its installation six weeks ago the company would print estate agent boards on vinyl and then laminate them to the required substrate, whereas now they can print directly on to the boards.
Following the investment the £700,000 company is looking to recruit two more staff to its team of 17.
