The Cookham, Berkshire-based wide-format and display printer extended its site by 280sqm to 880sqm over the summer, after an extra unit with mezzanine became available, kitting it out with two HP Latex machines, a 560 and a 1500, along with a 3m-wide Esko Kongsberg C64 cutting table.
Purchased mainly to reduce the need to outsource dye-sublimation and backlit printing jobs, Oasis managing director Simon Osborne said he invested to cut outsourcing by around 50% and that he had been frustrated by a number of tenders Oasis had missed out on due to it not running Latex machines.
Currently in the profiling stage, the Latex’s were installed last month and the Kongsberg was brought in one month prior, with the 28-staff outfit leaving the option open to purchase a third Latex in the new year.
Osborne said: “We’ve been talking about Latex for a couple of years. We run UV and solvents and thought this would be an exciting move forward. We didn’t want to get involved with dye-sublimation directly and Latex was obviously close on quality, plus the environmental credentials, so we decided it was right after a few demos.
“The idea with the Latex is that we can set them up at night and run two rolls. Whereas you’re not supposed to leave UV it gives us another shift, an unmanned shift, so more hours in the day.”
Launched at Drupa, the 3.3m-wide Latex 1500 and 1.6m-wide 560 print at up to 74sqm/hr or 91sqm/hr respectively in a variety of modes, ranging from single pass to high saturation textile 20-pass. Utilising HP Thermal Inkjet heads they can both reach 1,200dpi quality, taking a range of media that includes PVC banners, self-adhesive vinyl and various textiles.
"We purchased the 3m-wide Kongsberg to work in tandem with the large HP Latex, which takes the print from the roll and finishes it without the need to put it on the bench," added Osborne.
“So we can print, cut out, wrap then dispatch.”
£3m-turnover Oasis also runs a Vutek GS machine, Fujifilm Acuity flatbed, four Mimaki JV33 eco-solvent printers and a Zünd cutter.
