The Waterloo, London-based firm has bought the wide-format printer in a bid to quadruple its turnover over the next two years.
The recent purchase forms part of a £2m investment in ARC’s UK operation following continued growth in its large-format colour business over the past six years.
According to Canon, the Océ Arizona 460 GT produces "near-photographic" image quality on both rigid and flexible media up to 1.25x2.5m.
With six independent ink channels and Océ VariaDot imaging technology, it offers varnish capabilities with spot and flood gloss effects and white ink to print on coloured media at up to 32.8sqm/hr.
“This is the second Arizona we have installed in the last 18 months, joining an Arizona 480 XT to increase our production capacity as we continue to win new business and diversify our offering in retail,” said managing director John Snell.
“Our escalation plans in the UK have already seen us increase headcount from 26 to 100 in an 18-month period, as well as expand into new 1,300sqm premises.
“The capabilities of Arizona technology are, in my mind, unsurpassed, particularly in the production of high-quality display graphics where customers are increasingly requesting decorative elements such as white ink and varnishing.
“Also having the roll-feed option on both machines enhances their capability and enables us to be more versatile with medias for our clients.”
The business looked at a range of other alternatives but decided to stick with Arizona due to familiarity of the technology and the high level of service and support it has received from Canon. The firm is considering further investments in Arizona equipment in 2015.
ARC-UK has grown from a £3m-turnover business in early 2013 to a £10m operation today through both acquisition and organic growth. The company is anticipating a similar increase again over the next two years.
“Previously, ARC has been well recognised internationally for producing monochrome technical documents for the AEC, financial and legal sectors, but now is the time to really show what we can do with colour,” said Snell.
“Established clients in the retail sector like to see new suppliers coming into the market with fresh ideas and that is what we are doing. A recent project saw our installation teams erecting a 23x10m wall, printed on an Arizona overnight, at the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham; quite an eye catcher!”
