Total Displays helps make EFI's Fespa a record-breaker

Total Displays has upgraded its print arsenal and MIS with a double EFI deal at Fespa, part of a 1.5m spend in 2013 that also includes a move to a new site.

The Peterborough-based display and exhibition specialist is moving to a site on the other side of the city. The company bought the new facility earlier this year and is in the process of completing renovations. It plans to complete the move at the end of July.

"We’re going to a big 2,800sqm unit, but we’ll stay in the area because Peterborough is ideal for us – it’s an hour away from both London and Birmingham," said managing director Layth Karagholi.

"Previously we were leasing, but we’ve had a huge growth, which put us in a position to buy the building and invest in kit."

To support the move, the four-year-old, 28-staff company signed for a 3.2m-wide EFI Vutek QS3 Pro UV hybrid flatbed printer and EFI Pace MIS from reseller CMYUK and a Zünd G3 digital cutter at Fespa.

Karagholi said that the QS3 offered the best combination of versatility of applications, print quality and production speed.

"We come from the indoor business where resolutions are high but speeds are slow, so we used to think UV was not an option. With the Vutek, UV is now possible without our customers noticing the transition," he added.

The QS3 will be installed at the new site later this month and will run alongside the firm’s battery of HP DesignJets. The new MIS will be rolled out over the coming months, replacing a Clarity system. The Zünd will be installed in the autumn.

According to Karagholi, the new site has space for 70 office staff alone, so as a result of the move he would be looking to continue to grow the business.

"The only thing that has been stopping us growing faster has been our site; we just had no more room to put anyone."

While the company can process orders online, Karagholi said the key driver for its growth was "unrivalled customer service".

"Some competitors try to push customers on to their websites, but we want ours to pick up the phone so that we can help them make the right choices, we want to be a consultant, a partner, and that seems to work."

Karagholi added that once the company has bedded into its new home, he would be looking at further kit investments.

The double sale to Total Displays helped to make this year’s Fespa a "record-breaking" show for EFI.

"Fespa attracts some of the industry's most discerning print professionals and our performance at this year's show validates the investments EFI is making to give them more automation, productivity, quality and versatility," said Scott Schinlever, senior vice-president and general manager of EFI's Inkjet Solutions division.