Installed in January, the flagship super-wide Vutek, which was launched last year, represented a circa £750,000 investment for Ringwood-based JCT and replaced a Screen Truepress WS3200UV HS machine that has been sold on.
Using its new arrival, advertising and POS specialist JCT will be able to cut the production time of 100 double-sided 1.2x1.7m Foamex boards from eight hours turnaround to 45 minutes. Other applications will likely include Correx and Dibond sheets, as well as banners and pull-ups.
Managing director Julian Turner said: “This deal with EFI represents a new relationship for us, but at the moment it couldn’t be better. They are very quick to respond and only want the best for our company and their product.
“Advantages from the new machine for our clients include quick turnaround and slightly lower costs due to the speed and ink costs. We can also do long runs now without a problem at all due to its great speed.
“Our plans from here are to build up a few more steady print relationships off of the back of this purchase and explore the potential to invest in further finishing equipment and staff.”
EFI’s Vutek HS125 F4 is a 3.2m flatbed/roll-to-roll hybrid inkjet system using eight ink channels for double CMYK configuration. It can print up to 225 boards/hr and offers resolutions of up to 1,000dpi as well as greyscale capability.
Turner said he was impressed by its ink adhesion on Correx corrugated plastics boards, calling it a “very hard substrate to strike a happy medium on” which can be printed at “full throttle” on the HS125 F4.
JCT Developments’ print technology portfolio, which makes use of the PrintFactory workflow, includes a Screen Truepress WS3200UV HS flatbed in addition to its sold-on counterpart, as well as two Jetrix RX3200UV roll-to-roll printers, a number of Mimaki roll-to-roll systems, a variety of flatbed cutters from Dyss and Colex, and laminators from Mounter's Mate.
The firm turns over £3.6m with a headcount of 24. Currently occupying 1,858sqm floorspace, its premises are likely to be expanded in the future “Brexit depending”, according to Turner.
