The one-man outfit, based in Royston, Hertfordshire, replaced two Mutoh ValueJet machines with the printer in mid-January. It was supplied by Roland reseller Josero. 

One of the ValueJets was sold to a bouncy castle manufacturer, along with a Summa cutter, and the other has just been sold to a vehicle wrapper. The second ValueJet had been purchased secondhand a year ago to help with an influx of jobs.

“We do a lot of label printing as well as the big stuff and it was the small stuff that was causing issues, with print being a bit blurry or not sharp enough,” said L&S managing director Leigh Howden.

“It’s definitely a bit quicker and is helping on the e-commerce side. The old machine would take more time to print, which cuts down my afternoon, so getting through the printing quicker is allowing me more time out on the road. Time is crucial, I never have enough time in the day to get my jobs done.”

Howden runs the machine from around 6am to midday while dealing with the e-commerce side of the business, before heading out to deliver or install jobs in the afternoon.

The Roland RF-640, which runs double CMYK, prints at speeds up to 49sqm/hr and comes with a Roland GX cutter. It has a VersaWorks RIP, which includes an in-built Pantone spot colour library, and can print at maximum 1,440dpi quality.

L&S is continuing to use a bulk ink system, a Triangle RXV Eco Bulk system, with two-litre bags carrying the equivalent of around five cartridges per colour.

L&S, which last year had sales of around £200,000, supplements its output with an embroidery business, operated two days a week by Howden’s partner.

Along with the Roland, it runs a Mimaki CJV30, two cutters, a laminator, a CNC router and an embroidery machine with heat press.