Following their purchase of the long-established Signmaster Systems business last May, new owners Lucy Ratcliffe and Samantha Kehoe renewed the business's focus on hardware sales and support.

“Signmaster was a Mimaki reseller about four years ago and we have a big customer base with Mimaki machines, said Ratcliffe. “It made sense to bring it back.”

The standout Mimaki machine was the brand new UCJV Series LED-UV roll-to-roll printer and cutter with instant drying, she said.

“It's a very, very impressive machine with five-layer print to enable front- and back-lit print,” added Ratcliffe who employs around 15 staff in Whitchurch, Shropshire.

“Becoming a Mimaki reseller again was the first item on our wish list when we bought Signmaster. Sam and I had Mimaki machines when we first started our print business.”

That business, Print Monkey, has been “wound down and brought across” to Signmaster to offer overflow printing for busy customers or ones needing different or wider materials.

“We believe in Mimaki's quality and wanted to start offering the machines to our customers again. We were delighted when Hybrid felt the same,” said Ratcliffe.

“Bringing Mimaki back into the business has created a lot of excitement for the staff at Signmaster.”

The business serves the sign-making sector with Mimaki kit including a dedicated JV150 solvent printer with matching CG-FX plotter as well as the new UCJV printer/cutter.

Signmaster Systems is holding an open day on 23 March where it will show off equipment from Mimaki, HP, Graphtec and Vivid.

John de la Roche,  national sales manager of Mimaki's exclusive UK and Irish master distributor Hybrid Services, said: “We’re pleased to be working with Lucy, Sam and the team at Signmaster and look forward to helping support them and their customers.”