Installed at VMGS’ Market Harborough production site in October 2024, the flatbed cutter has since helped clear bottlenecks in the firm’s finishing department, priming it for growth.
Joining a smaller Kongsberg X24 Edge and Graphtec plotter, the new JCUT handles print from across the company’s portfolio of Mimaki kit, including a UJV55-320 UV LED roll-to-roll, UCJV300-160, JFX200-2513 EX flatbed and JV100-160 solvent printer.
The JCUT, along with VMGS’ other machines, was bought from CMYUK.
Since its installation, it has proved itself an impressive piece of kit for its low price tag, according to Ken Mardon, co-founder of VMGS.
“The price-to-performance ratio of the JWEI JCUT-3230 is unmatched. It has all the features and functionality of a high-end cutting table, but at a fraction of the price,” Mardon said.
“It’s amazing,” added Mark McIntyre, Mardon’s co-founder.
“You just look at it and think, ‘Wow, that’s huge’. It sits next to our Kongsberg, and it looks and performs like a premium brand.”
The cutter also comes with universal cutting tool, creasing wheel, kiss-cut tool, electric oscillating tool, and V-cut tool, with an automatic tool changer to switch each out. Capable of acceleration up to 1g, the cutter’s final speed can reach up to 75m/min.
The creasing wheel is already proving particularly useful, Mardon told Printweek.
“You get all the add-ons as standard when you buy the machine, including the creasing wheel, which is very good,” he said.
“We can now offer free-standing display units, and we’re producing our own boxes already for dispatching goods – an instant cost saving.”
He added that the cutter’s larger 3.2m footprint has now allowed VMGS to take advantage of its UJV55-320’s full 3.2m width, taking on jobs that had previously been out of reach.
“When it was available at such a reasonable price, to enable me to cut out what I can print, then it’s a no-brainer,” Mardon said.
The cutter’s ease of use has also made it popular with the company’s two finishers Tim Reeves and Maria Bland, who undertook three days’ training with CMYUK.
“Obviously, Tim breezed it, and Maria, who's been with us for less than a year and new to the industry, is already using it daily. It’s that easy to use,” said Mardon.
VMGS was founded in 2019 by Mardon and McIntyre, former colleagues at Leicester digital wide-format firm Digital Wordcrafts. Since setting out on their own, they have built VMGS into a full service provider with 16 staff, and a turnover of just under £2m from a client book that ranges from health food retailers to gym and leisure centre display print, as well as race graphics for the McAMS Yamaha Racing superbike team.
“We had quite a good customer base in the first instance,” Mardon added.
“We’re just looking to expand and build a company that will be here for a long while. This year, we want to continue to grow and pull more customers in. We pride ourselves on our quick turnaround times and attention to detail, and we’d like more customers through the door so we can provide them that service.”
