Based in the UK and France, WF Education sells movable, flexible and modular furniture for schools and libraries that can be changed as the lesson demands.

Last year, the firm decided to bring its production in-house. Establishing a new production workshop in Shrewsbury, it brought in a CNC router, edge bander, beam saw, box maker and other machines to fit the entire manufacturing process in-house.

Lacking only a printer to handle the necessary graphics, WF Education turned to supplier CMYUK, which is based locally.

Now able to print directly to board since the December installation of the Mimaki, the firm has seen a significant improvement in quality: previously, it had been reliant on outsourced SAV decals, which it included in its flatpack furniture packs – too often resulting in issues with application and adhesion like air bubbles and peeling.

“We were looking for a printer that could output onto 18mm MFC boards, but because these have an anti-microbial coating, CMYUK spent a lot of time testing various primers and inks to achieve the perfect solution for us,” said John Daniel (JD) Whyte, who was the firm’s purchasing director overseeing the installation.

“What we really like is the fact that training is ongoing, so when new staff join they can be brought up to speed on the printer. Also, as CMYUK is so close to us, if we have any specific challenges, we can just pop in and work with the team to come up with solutions, which was a real selling point.

“We're now looking at where we can add printed media on to other products to help expand our range. Having the flatbed in-house has made us very competitive, and we are going to use our printing capability as a value-added service rather than just a profit generator, differentiating our service and helping us to win larger projects.”