The investment decision was sparked after WO Jones’ Epson Stylus Pro 9890’s suffered a printhead failure in October. Following the installation of the TrueVis, the 19-staff company retained the now repaired Epson.
The £15,000, 1.37m-wide (54in) machine, which was launched at Fespa Digital, was supplied by Signmaster Systems, who W. O. Jones managing director Marcus Jones said had been “very good, right through from demo to install to training”.
Jones said: “We have an aqueous-based Epson and over the past two years we have had a lot of demand for outdoor banners, signage and were putting it out as out-work to a local company.
"I went to Signmaster's showroom in Whitchurch and looked at a couple of other brands but we chose Roland because of the reputation that goes with it and because it prints and cuts, which allows us to die-cut stickers in-house.”
The 900dpi TrueVis is available in four, seven or eight channels; the printer opted for eight channels running CMYK plus an extra magenta channel, light magenta, light cyan and light black.
“It’s very fast and quality is on par if not better than the Epson for most things bar photos. Not only will it allow us to do a lot more in-house but it will also allow us to be more competitive because we haven’t got out-work plus profit to calculate.”
Last month, the Anglesey, Wales-based outfit also upgraded its Kodak Prinergy Workflow system to its latest offering, Version 6.
112-year-old W. O. Jones, which last year had sales just shy of £1.5m, offers a range of print services alongside its wide-format offering, including digital, litho and direct mail.
Alongside the Roland and the Epson, it runs two Heidelberg Speedmasters: a four-colour SM 52 and a five-colour XL, a two-colour Heidelberg GTO and a Xerox 700 digital colour press.
It also has a roster of finishing equipment, including a 2015-purchased guillotine, two MBO folders, a Heidelberg Stahlfolder, an Osaka/Muller stitching line and a Kodak Magnus 400 platesetter.
