All three machines were taken on in April at the firm’s 1,160sqm premises in Cramlington, Northumberland.
The Soljet was brought in to replace a Roland VersaCamm VS-300i graphics printer which is now en route to Reproflex’s burgeoning base in Dubia, UAE, to expand its own capabilities. The new Soljet will aid the firm in producing flexible packaging mock-ups in a significantly shorter timeframe.
“We were very happy with the quality of the current VersaCamm, but we needed the machine to be quicker and more efficient,” said managing director Trevor Lowes. “The Soljet is twice as wide and prints at a faster speed.
“As we are a flexo repro house supplying flexo plates we have a great understanding of flexible packaging, so we can give the client a realistic product that has been colour managed into the flexo process.
“We can now produce projects in a shorter time frame, where before we were turning work away as we couldn’t achieve the deadlines.”
Provided by Worcestershire-based reseller Oris Packaging Innovations, the Soljet Pro 4 XR-640 brings an extended colour gamut of CMYK, plus orange, green, white and metallic to Reproflex on two inline, mirrored printheads using Oris’ own Extended Gamut XG inks. The 1.6m printer-cutter can print at speeds up to 49sqm/hr at resolutions of up to 1,440dpi.
With the addition of two more SC-P7000s, Reproflex 3’s Epson portfolio now consists of four machines to produce colour-managed proofs for its brand-based and flexo clients. Having a wider portfolio allows the firm greater flexibility and capacity.
Epson’s 610mm-wide SC-P7000 photo and proof printer runs an 11-colour gamut.
The full £35,000 installation increases Reproflex’s capacity by around 40%, according to Lowes, and will aid the £3.7m-turnover firm’s continued year-on-year growth of 20%. Its mock-up department, which will utilise the new Epsons, trades under the name Sample-it.
Sample-it will continue to grow in the UAE with 12 members of staff based in Dubai. A single member of staff is currently working for Reproflex 3 and Sample-it in India, while a further 35 employees are UK-based.
Last year, Reproflex 3 was the first UK company to take on a Zünd G3 digital cutting table for the purpose of automating polymer plate production and bringing plate finishing in-house.
