Reflex Printed Plastics isn’t shy of innovation. Indeed, it has grown from a front-room screen print operation into one of the UK’s leading printers working with plastic and employing 25 people by being quite the opposite, scouring the globe for new processes and products. However, it will only invest when the technology is proven and the business benefits are clear. This is why it took it longer than some might have expected to get on board with digital print.

"When we first looked at it around three years ago, if you viewed the digital print from two or three feet away it would look great, but when you looked at it closely, you could see the blurring around the dot and the printhead tracking lines," explains Simon Joy, new processes manager at the company. "Our reputation is one of always maintaining high quality; we always go into the detail and the quality these digital presses were producing just wasn’t up to our standards. So we held off."

But Joy says that, at the end of 2009, the company looked at the situation again as it was beginning to lose the odd job to rivals using digital technology. They found that the quality was steadily getting closer to a litho standard, and this prompted Reflex to consider digital as a viable option for the first time. The search began for a suitable machine and Reflex found it at Ipex 2010 in the form of the newly launched Fujifilm Acuity Advance 3545 HS.

"We saw it running and it was doing the quality we wanted and the speed we wanted and it could print white," says Joy.
That’s not to say the company was fully satisfied with the product and was ready to make an investment just yet. Reflex is a plastics specialist – printing on vinyls, polyprops, PVC and the like – with a particular focus on lenticular print. Its clients are made up of 50%–60% print management companies, 20% marketing and design agencies and 20% end clients, each one with widely varying specifications. Hence, the company is in a very niche environment where flexibility is key. 

"Because of what we produce as an end product – signage, ring binders, mouse mats, packaging, stickers – we end up with some varied projects. We are not printing the same B2 bit of paper day in day out, every project is very different from the last and the one following," explains Jim Shetland, production manager.

Testing times
The Acuity had to meet these demands, so the first step for Reflex was testing to see if it was up to it. Two of the company’s staff spent four days at Fujifilm’s HQ running tests on the machine with a variety of jobs and substrates typical of the day-to-day work it would be required to run.

"We concluded that the press would be able to do everything we wanted it to do, but not straight away," explains Joy. "So we installed the press and began a three-month process of developments."

This was back in the second half of 2010. The press installation went smoothly, meaning the Fuji engineers and the Reflex staff could get to work straight away at amending the press. In its basic configuration, the press has an image size of 3.06x2.51m and supports media sizes up to 3.05x2.5m. The system can print the full size plus up to 5mm bleed and the vacuum bed can be adjusted to support varying media types and thicknesses up to 48mm. The CMYK and optional white Fujifilm Uvijet UV inks are cured with UV lamps and output speed is 40sqm/hr in production mode, 67m2/hr in express mode. As impressive as this was, Reflex needed something different.

"We knew that, with our niche market, what we would ask the press to do was not what it has been built for," reveals Shetland. "The whole set-up of the press has changed from the standard configuration to enable us to do the short-run, highly variable and complex work we produce each day."

For every job that went through the press, problems were identified and solutions were found. This included software rewriting, press re-fingerprinting, adapting the lenticular functionality and countless other minor and major amendments.
"After three or four months, we could print on any of our materials to Fogra standards and in very, very sharp detail," says Joy. "When we first sent our samples out, people could not believe they were printed digitally. They could not see the difference between it and our litho work. That put a big smile on our faces."

Since the period of amendments, Reflex has had little need for Fujifilm’s engineers, but, when they have been called out, Joy says the service has been "excellent". Speed wise, it is as fast as the manufacturer claims on the basic items. That said, Reflex rarely does anything basic. Fujifilm did not realise it was possible to put much of what Reflex puts through the machine and so there is no speed benchmark to meet. What Reflex can say is that it is much quicker producing certain items on the digital machine than it was before.  

New markets  
Initially, the plan was to use the press as a short-run complement to the company’s Komori presses, but the quality coming off the machine is such that new markets are opening up thanks to the purchase. For example, the degree of print quality on things like acrylics means there is accuracy from close up, as well as a few feet away, and this means some customers are considering printed plastics in a new light. For example, Joy recently had an enquiry for a 64x64m display, something the company would have had no way of producing before the Acuity.

As with new technology, though, Reflex likes to take its time when approaching offering a new product.

"We can now operate in new markets, though we pride ourselves on bringing knowledge to the table so we are taking our time about this and doing our research properly first so we can provide a full and expert service," explains Joy.

Shetland adds that return on investment has been very fast, not just because of new products but also because of decreased makeready time.

"We specialise in lenticular and there are two sides to this: the pre-press side which is massively time consuming and the press set-up side, which can also take a lot of time," he reveals. "Time is obviously money. The Acuity doesn’t rid you of the pre-press time but what it gives you is massively reduced press time. Once you have worked out how to produce it, the press-ready time is far quicker. Shorter-run lenticular has always been extremely expensive, but now it’s a possibility. It’s not unheard of for us now to be able to do one or two copies at a competitive price."

This is not to say that Reflex is moving to become a digital-only house. Both Joy and Shetland stress that it is the combination of digital, litho and screen that gives the firm its flexibility. However, digital has played an important part in broadening the company’s horizons and will play a big part in determining future directions, though Joy is typically cautious about committing himself to any particular heading.

"We are waiting to see where the new doors take us," he reveals. "We have to follow the market."

SPECIFICATIONS
Max speed
40sqm/hr, with a new ‘express’ mode of 65.9sqm/hr
Max sheet size
2.5x1.25m
Max substrate thickness
50.8mm
Price
From £100,000
Contact
Fujifilm UK
01234 245245
www.fujifilm.co.uk

COMPANY PROFILE
Reflex Printed Plastics was established in 1976 and employs 25 people. It is a specialist plastics printer, with screen,
litho and digital technology, and focuses particularly on lenticular and 3D work. It is based in Kent and counts blue-chip companies such as Nestlé, Pfizer, 3m and Mazda among its clients.

Why I bought it…
Initially the company was not impressed with digital quality but, towards the end of 2009, it felt that digital technology had come of age and could aid Reflex with short-run work. The company looked around for a press and came across a suitable fit in the form of the Acuity Advance 3545. "We saw it running and it was doing the quality we wanted and the speed we wanted, and it could print white," says Simon Joy, new processes manager.
 
How it has performed…
Joy says the press is producing exceptional quality at speed, and has opened up new markets. The company has extensively modified the press to suit its unique requirements and the results have impressed both Fuji and Reflex clients, especially in terms of quality, with many not being able to spot the difference between work output on the litho kit and that output on the Acuity. "That put a smile on our faces," says Joy.