The 20-staff outfit, based in Ashton-under-Lyne, purchased the £100,000 machine from Yorkshire-based supplier SSE Worldwide. Mida director Mike Smith obtained a loan to pay for the machine.
It was installed on 22 September and replaces a five-year-old Agfa Anapurna M1600, which was half its size.
Smith said: “We had a trial and this one just looked like an efficient machine. It prints well, quality is excellent, the value of the machine is good and we’ve subsequently found that it’s been serviced very well. Something quite important is that we didn’t want to be tied in to any maintenance contracts so we bought it with a one-year warranty and basic reactive call-outs.
“The 3.2m Agfa wasn’t out and its value might have been a bit more than I wanted to pay. There aren’t many 3.2m machines out there so this might have been a bit of a gamble but sometimes in life you have to take gambles and when they work out it’s all good.
The Signracer joins Mida’s existing Agfa Anapurna M250i, although Smith said it prints at two to three times its speed, printing a standard 10x5m panel in around 10 minutes.
The four-colour (with optional white and clear coat) printer runs at a maximum speed of 27sqm/hr with two Ricoh Generation 5 print heads.
It takes maximum media weight of 50sqm/kg at a maximum thickness of 50mm, printing at a maximum resolution of 1,200dpi.
Smith said it is mainly being used for direct-to-substrate, roll-to-roll and banners, along with other vinyl applications.
“We do a lot of trade work so have to constantly adapt how we’re working. How this will affect things I don’t know but I suppose it’s down to the end-user. Will they keep spending money and does the sign trade keep going?” added Smith.
Mida has also recently been the beneficiary of a European business development grant, being awarded it on the day Britain voted to leave the EU.
The grant paid for six teaching sessions for Mida over the past two months, in areas such as social media, accounting, and morale and wellbeing. In return, Mida had to employ one extra member of staff.
Mida also runs two HP Latex printers and a Summa vinyl cutter.