Arriving in early February, the Mimaki was installed under the supervision of WCC’s newly hired vehicle wrap technician Christian Healey.

Specialising in paintwork, accident repairs and body-building, WCC had previously outsourced its vehicle wrapping and printing work, but had grown frustrated over the lack of control over results according to Mike Wright, commercial director.

He told Printweek that WCC had decided to make a clean break and bring in Healey and the Mimaki: “We’re aiming to make it a self-sustaining part of the business that can handle anything from small signage for one-man bands on their vans, all the way up to fleet vehicles – anything from truck units to full trailers.

“It hasn’t been two months, and we’re very optimistic – things are looking really promising. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a few bigger projects coming through in the next month or two.”

The inclusion of printing and wrapping within WCC’s portfolio has helped the firm return to its natural business rationale of offering a complete service to customers, Wright added.

He said: “The whole reason we started was to be a one-stop-shop. So it’s great that we can do everything from build commercial vehicles, to paint or repair them, and now decorate them [in-house] too.”

The JV300-160plus, an inkjet engine with inbuilt cutter, can print up to 1,440dpi with Mimaki’s Greenguard gold solvent inks and handles rolls of media up to 45kg.

WCC has chosen an eight-colour configuration to help it colour-match with existing graphics, Headley said.

He added: “The Mimaki is very simple to use, and it walks you through all the steps yourself. I hadn’t used a Mimaki for some time, but coming back to it didn’t seem that much of a challenge.”

WCC employs 45 at its Wednesbury site between Wolverhampton and Birmingham.