The firm's P10 UV hybrid roll-to-roll/flatbed printer was installed at the start of June,just a week after it completed a 185sqm extension at its now 4,088sqm base in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.
It will expand Macroart’s hybrid portfolio, working alongside an EFI Vutek GS3250LX LED to produce jobs for the retail and exhibition markets.
At the same time as the P10, a 512R roll-to-roll dye-sub was taken on to replace a 10-year-old, 5m-wide HP machine that had come to the end of its life, and it will run alongside another 512R that was installed three years ago.
“We needed something to enable us to grow and put out the quality our clients are looking for at speed,” said commercial director Michael Green, who was part of the MBO team that bought the business four years ago.
“We looked at the P10 because we already used Durst for our dye-sub work and tend to lean towards them with our tech.
“Last week, we took on a massive exhibition job that required over 1,000sqm of print and, without the P10, we would have had to turn it away.
“Our HP machine was ancient, and we had been very impressed by the consistency of our existing 512R, which is why we went for another one. It gives us fantastic quality in great time and the two new machines combined mean we can, for instance, do both backlit and rigid signage for an exhibition client – we can do the lot.”
Durst’s Rho P10 250 HS Plus is a UV flatbed that can print up to 400sqm/hr continuous roll with a maximum print width of 2.5m at a resolution of 1,000dpi. Using Durst’s flexible inks will allow Macroart to reduce its environmental impact.
The Rho 512R Plus is a 5m roll-to-roll system that prints at speeds of up to 400sqm/hr with a maximum resolution of 1,200dpi. Its fine art mode will enable Macroart to produce backlit work.
Macroart will utilise its two new printers alongside a portfolio of wide-format machines including a 5m-wide EFI and two Durst 3.2m-wide textile printers. It is aiming to boost its £12m turnover to £15m in the next three years with the aid of its latest investments.
The firm employs 110 staff across its St Neots base and London office at the Southwark Metal Box Factory, which was until recently also the home of personalisation giant Photobox Group.
