The 22-staff printer paid around £300,000 for the kit and installed it over the winter. The company has since seen workloads take off for wallpaper and jobs on Dibond and acrylic.
Joint managing director Jim Lynch said the Agfa machine replaced a Vutek, which had experienced some issues with the belt. The Agfa belt was wider and had more suction power, he felt.
“The new machine also puts down less ink but offers better print quality. It does everything we did before but much more smoothly.”
The Jeti Tauro is engineered for 24/7 production environments, can print on an extensive variety of rigid and flexible substrates up to 2.54m and is capable of throughput speeds of up to 275m2/hr.
The decision to expand into digital printing was taken when JPL acquired a second, larger unit at the Coombswood Business Park a couple of years ago.
This enabled JPL to house its short-run digital and conventional litho at the site and locate the complete wide-format operation in the original building.
Joint managing directors Jim Lynch and Mark Kay also run two Heidelbergs, a CP digital machine and a five-colour Spreedmaster XL75.
Kay said they first saw the Jeti Tauro last year at Drupa and then went to Agfa’s showroom in Belgium for further demonstrations.
“The image quality was impressive and far better than anything else we have seen, so the decision was taken to upgrade to the Jeti Tauro, which offers both roll-to-roll and flatbed printing.”
JPL Print & Design sales director Mike Harrold added: “Over the past couple of years we have invested in two Heidelbergs.
"Now, the Agfa Jeti Tauro really sets us apart and will make a significant difference to our future potential.”
