Installed in late April, the new 2.4x1.2m UV LED flatbed has allowed Encore’s internal print team to save time and money by printing direct onto rigid substrates, rather than mounting print onto board – or commissioning print from external providers.

The JFX200, bought from CMYUK, has joined the firm’s existing machinery, including a Mimaki UJV55-320 UV LED roll-to-roll printer and UCJV330-160 UV LED printer-cutter; it follows the installation of a VeloBlade cutting table from Vivid last year.

Martin Alfonso, print operations manager at Encore EMEA, told Printweek that his three-person team – soon to be expanded to four – was very happy with the new machine’s performance.

“It’s working great for us. We waited a long time to get purchase approval, and now that we have it, it’s fantastic – we’re very happy with it so far,” he said.

“It’s a massive change, cutting out production time. Because the events industry is so last-minute, we really needed something to help us deal quickly with requests, and get everything done to deadline, that’s the biggest benefit.”

Having the flatbed alongside the other two printers has helped the team place work more efficiently, with fewer changeovers and interruptions, Alfonso added.

“It gives us free time on the other machines to print other work,” he explained.

“We do a lot of wallcoverings, floor vinyls, that kind of thing, and we can now handle a lot more of that work. It suits us very well.”

Encore’s print hub, established six years ago, is a small part of a large global business, and serves 50 venues across the UK; for the team, getting the new flatbed was an important win in proving its worth – and the team has been putting it through its paces.

“We’ve given it a proper blast in the last couple of months,” Alfonso said.

“It’s been heavily used, and we’ve had no issues. It’s something that we needed for a long time, and now we’re very happy with it.”