The printer was installed at the Derby-based business at the end of last year and the Carousel quickly followed. Both machines were supplied by CMYUK.
The Vutek FabriVu 340i has replaced two older Mimaki JV5 printers that the company said were no longer fast enough for its demands.
“They’ve both done a good stint and have been great assets, but the market has changed, our volumes have increased, and turnaround times have decreased,” said MX Display managing director Adrian Rushton.
MX Display added digital textiles to its portfolio a decade ago, initially outsourcing the work until it purchased the Mimaki kit to bring the process in-house.
“We bought into textile printing because we saw the opportunities it would give us with our current clients that included education, office environments, and small boutique retailers,” said Rushton.
“We were being asked if we could do certain things and we felt that hanging banners weren’t appropriate, so we moved into printing items such as hanging drapes. Instead of putting printed Foamex on walls, we were looking at the use of silver frames with printed fabrics in them. Printed textiles really improved our presentation.”
Prior to the pandemic MX Display had developed a strategic plan for significant growth, targeting corporate interiors, fabric wallcoverings and commercial environments.
While this led to increased volume output, the company found that its existing kit struggled to deliver on the quick turnarounds that it was being asked for.
It said the purchase of the 3.4m-wide roll-to-roll FabriVu 340i has transformed the situation. The machine has inine fixation, allowing users to print direct to fabric and sublimate within a single operation. The inline sublimation can also be turned off, allowing for paper transfer printing that can be fixed through use of a standalone calender press.
“The increased volume, speed and capacity that the FabriVu 340i gives us has futureproofed the business certainly for the next few years,” said Rushton.
“The inline finishing was key for us because up until this point we had always calendered offline, but felt in order to meet the increased turnaround times, we knew this was the way to go – to turn a two-part step into a single process for the majority of the standard display fabrics that we use.”
The company’s increased print production meant that the volume of materials it used also escalated. Consignment stock ordering to cut back on deliveries and reduce its carbon footprint led MX Display to rethink its storage, particularly with 3.2m-wide textiles rolls.
It ultimately chose to invest in the CMYUK High Roller Carousel because the kit is able to store and recover roll material efficiently and ergonomically, minimising the need for manual handling. MX Display’s 7m high system caters for 3.2m-wide rolls and can hold up to 30 reels at any one time.
Rushton said he hoped that following a frantic three months leading up to Christmas, followed by a nervous January, business will continue to increase as the industry as a whole regains its confidence.
“We need to learn to live with Covid and want to get back to normality. Clients that held back are now saying they want to move forward. Positivity is returning, which will allow us to continue our pattern of pre-Covid growth.”
He added: “The last couple of years have been about firefighting but now we can get back to our strategic action plan to continue expanding in the markets we excel in and where we add real value.
“We’re also pushing really hard on our environmental offering and will be introducing many more eco-friendly alternatives, so we can help clients with their own sustainability goals.”
Last year MX Display took on an EFI Vutek h5 superwide-format hybrid LED printer. The company has been in business for more than 25 years, evolving from a photographic house into a high-end designer, producer and installer of printed graphics and signage.
