The Aylesbury, Kent-based business initiated the spend last Christmas, initially bringing in an Epson SureColor SC-8600, before following that up with a Roland VG-540 printer-cutter, an Accura MIS system and a 2m-wide Durst Rho P10 200 in March to make up the bulk of the investment.

Two Fujifilm Acuities have been retained as backup, with Imagink managing director Mike Saunders putting the increase in productivity down to speed gains from the Durst.

“Where we were printing one job on the Acuity for days, we could do that on the Durst in a working shift and that is purely down to the difference in the speed of the machines, it has quadrupled from machine to machine,” said Saunders.

The seven-colour (CMYK plus light cyan, light magenta and white) Durst can print at up to 175sqm/hr on a wide variety of substrates, including foam board, metal, acrylic and PVC. A new 280sqm premises next door to Imagink’s current site was taken on to house the machine, along with pick-and-pack machinery, and the Durst may soon be utilised in double-day shifts.

Saunders added: “It’s now opened up a new area for us, where we can print white. We’ve done a bit of trade work as well in our area because it’s got the white; it has definitely helped us to get that bit of extra work.” 

The Roland and Epson were bought in mainly for quality purposes, joining an older Epson machine and a number of HP Latex machines in the main Aylesbury site of the £1.5m-turnover business. 

Saunders said: “Again, it’s down to the quality side. The idea for the Roland was to print and cut at the same time, some jobs need that facility, so we use it for that. The Epson was bought purely because quality was high.” 

It is unlikely that 12-staff Imagink will be investing further in 2017 but next it will be looking to bring the wide-format lamination process in-house, as its widest laminator is currently 1.6m, meaning some wide-format lamination jobs have to be outsourced.