The printer was installed by wide-format and 3D printing hardware supplier Stanford Marsh, who Go Cre8 managing director Paul Lin said had been “incredibly helpful” during the installation process. Last week, the Worcester-based company was given a PageWide Partner Award by HP as a top performer for sales and customer service.

Lin looked at a number of other machines, including an Océ ColorWave 700 but price was a big factor when it came to purchasing the PageWide. Posters are more expensive to produce on the Arizona so moving poster production to the PageWide has helped reduce costs, he said.

There have been some issues with the printer’s usability however. 

"There have been coded problems. It will print 50 sheets, then we need to reboot the machine, and things like that. We haven't really started printing to other media. Printing to CAD paper is easy but to be honest if I were comparing it to the ColorWave this is a lot faster but the ColorWave is more high-end quality."

The PageWide was purchased to free up space for more production on Go Cre8's current Océ Arizona 350GT UV flatbed. This has allowed it to take on new jobs in March and April respectively, one for a number of hoardings for Signature Living in the hotel industry and the other a hoarding for the International Festival for Business, taking place at Liverpool’s Echo Arena from 13 June to 1 July.

Lin said: “We were printing a lot of posters on our Océ Arizona, it has freed up that machine. There have been some niggles along the way but there always is with new technology and HP have been very supportive.” The issues have now been resolved. 

With the taking on of new jobs and increased poster production, Go Cre8 also wants to double the size of its 500sqm premises and relocate in the very near future, although it will remain in the same area.

Thomas Valiak, HP's head of large-format printing and graphics solutions business, said: “At HP we are deeply committed to continuing to provide feature enhancements and fine tuning of our HP PageWide XL product, including regular firmware revisions and upgrades.

"The glitch that Go Cre8 came across was addressed accordingly, and we continue to work with customers to ensure they get the right experience with our HP PageWide XL product range.”