Kingswood iOptus printed and installed “underwater” window graphics for Tideway
Branching out into wide format is becoming a popular venture for commercial printers. Digital Printer looked at three companies that have expanded their offerings.
Primarily known for its London trading division in Clifton Street, where it runs legal, financial and commercial printing operations along with scanning, Kingswood iOptus was finding after five years that its large format division was getting too large for the building and the owners decided to expand into Kent.
Kingswood invested £750,000 in machinery to set up its new venture in Swanley, which started trading as Kingswood Display last September. Conveniently located just off the M25, (also convenient for motorsport fans, close to Brands Hatch), the new premises currently house two EFI Vuteks: a 3.25m GS3250 LX Pro and a 1.62m H1625; two HP Latex printers and a HP Design Jet Z6200 that made the journey from London.
‘You can purchase a printer that would give you a similar quality for half the price – the ink may be a bit more expensive – but with the Vutek by EFI, you know that you’re buying a machine of the highest quality,’ says Alan Rigglesford. He went on to explain that the company opted for CMYK + white machines from the premium end of the market following a visit to drupa 2016, before he was appointed managing director of Kingswood iOptus and Kingswood Display companies in February 2017.
Alan Rigglesford, MD of Kingswood iOptus and Kingswood Display with the Vutek GS3250LX Pro
Finishing equipment includes a Esko Kongsberg digital cutter, using i-cut software and a Neschen HotLam for mounting and laminating.
‘The focus on wide format was to cater for existing clients that were expanding their printing requirements,’ explains Mr Rigglesford, and based on its clients’ trend, the business factored in a six-month journey before it achieved a satisfactory return on investment. It was a sound plan. ‘Kingswood is ‘on target’ to reach the £7.5m mark projected for the company’s overall turnover in March 2018,’ he confirms.
Clients include Tideway, which required optically clear printed window manifestation graphics for the meeting rooms and the CEO’s office of its new premises overlooking HMS Belfast. The company is building the Thames Tideway Tunnel and the river was paramount in the design of the graphics. Kingswood produced amazingly realistic “underwater” themed interiors on its 3.2m Vutek, which it installed to make the offices look like a giant aquarium. Kingswood also produced soft signage for the British Grand Prix Fanzone at Silverstone this year, and for the 2017 Manchester NHS show.
In general, the company is using its wide format kit for retail, directional signage, conferences, and exhibitions. ‘We’re now receiving a lot of demand for floor graphics from visual merchandising managers, who are trying to utilise every inch of their retail space,’ adds Mr Rigglesford. ‘We’re also entering into another market sector of printing wallpaper and décor – which is a huge growth market.’
Intelligent investment
After a tour of Kingswood Display’s factory floor, Mr Rigglesford explains that on his appointment in February, Kingswood Display geared up for a 24-hour production, to ensure that all client deadlines were met. ‘In the last month, staff have been coming in every weekend, which is fantastic for us and a record month across the group,’ he reports. ‘Production levels have reached a point where we now need to increase productivity by investing more in our staff and upgrading machinery.’
Initially starting with an HP Latex 360, the company has increased productivity by investing in an HP Latex 560. The two machines are colour matched, using colour management software from GMG, which gives Kingswood extra signage and display options, using ink technology that is more flexible and robust than the Vuteks’.
‘By utilising the fastest machinery, the finishing equipment equally possesses the capabilities to match it,’ notes Mr Rigglesford. ‘Investment-wise, the right equipment was purchased but we’re now experiencing capacity issues – ahead of forecast – which has positively prompted us to prematurely enter phase two of our reinvestment programme. One of our future requirements will be soft signage, so we’ve been carefully researching EFI’s FabriVu and its competitors,’ he adds.
‘Our headquarters’ central London location is paramount to our current blue-chip customer base, some of which demand instant turnaround. Our greater London production space caters for large format bulk distribution. I am happy that Kingswood Display possesses the positive growth mind-set to continue to succeed,’ Mr Rigglesford concludes.
Making space for Mimaki
GPS Colour Graphics was originally best known as a producer of high volume items and brochures, catalogues and magazines, and the move into wide format was precipitated by demand from its existing customer base.
‘We found that we needed to branch into small volume items to keep clients happy, so we brought in digital small format, and then as a result of that people liked to use us as a one-stop shop, with a lot of requests… “Can you do this? Would you not consider doing that?”, ‘explains business development director Helen McClay. The company decided to tackle the wide format queries by investing in a Mimaki CJV150-160 printer/cutter, which it installed in May 2017.
GPS Colour Graphics established its wide-format division with a Mimaki CJV150-160 printer/cutter
‘At the beginning of this year we moved to new premises (125,000sq ft) less than a mile around the corner, in Belfast. We had wanted to get into wide format prior to moving but we literally didn’t have the space for it,’ reveals Ms McClay. ‘In our new premises we set aside 5000sq ft for both small format digital and wide format.
‘We felt that the Mimaki best suited our needs,’ she continues. The CJV150-160 uses eco-solvent, solvent and dye sub inks and has a print/cut width of 1610mm, a top speed of 56.2sqm/hr and a production speed of 19.5sqm/hr. ‘It did everything that we needed it to do,’ says Ms McClay, ‘but also there was support from the local supplier [Hybrid reseller, GPMi Reprocentre] – because obviously we were new to wide format. They were good at offering us help and guiding us getting off the ground.’
Installation was ‘very smooth’ and performance has been good – ‘the quality and vibrancy of the finished product is excellent’ says Ms McClay. Then it was simply a question of choosing which products to print with the new equipment. ‘There’s so many different applications – it’s endless! We decided to pick a few core ones first and see where it took us after that,’ she explains.
In terms of sign and display, GPS offers roll-up banners, Foamex boards, Correx boards, posters, prints for framing; PVC banners, aluminium signage, and vinyl stickers.
‘We really like the Mimaki’s print-and-cut feature which whilst not unique is very new to us,’ said Ms McClay. ‘Previously to produce stickers we would have had to set up the cylinder with a form; now it is much more efficient to produce on one machine.’
In fact the only minor hurdle for GPS has been deciding what to call its new output, due to the varying terminology. ‘Many people use different terms for the same thing so it’s been an education for the sales team and customer service,’ confides Ms McClay.
Within its new premises, the company has a comfortable area for its wide-format division, ‘but there’s room to grow that further, and I think that shows our commitment – that we think it will be a growing area for us,’ concludes Ms McClay.
Everything Agfa
Two years ago, Johnsons Printers of Nantwich, which offers litho and digital printing and direct mail, set up a wide-format division equipped with an Anapurna M2500i high-speed hybrid inkjet printer, Acorta flatbed cutter and Asanti workflow solution.
The team of 35, managed by John McMillan, used to outsource their wide-format display material but image quality and colour matching were recurring problems.
‘The ability to print consistently accurate colour is of crucial importance to our customers’ brand identities. We understand the necessity of colour matching and are able to reproduce this whether a job is printed litho or digital. The task was to provide the same quality of service in the production of wide-format display material,’ explains Mr McMillan.
With the intention of investing in a true flatbed printer, the company visited Agfa Graphics’ headquarters and were impressed with the six-colour Anapurna M2500i hybrid UV-curable inkjet system, which can print up to 115sqm/hr and has a white ink function for printing on transparent material for backlit applications or for printing white as a spot colour.
Agfa’s Anapurna M2500i wide-format printer and Acorta cutting table enabled Johnsons Printers of Nantwich to bring its wide format work in-house
‘The image on the Anapurna was superior to anything else we had seen,’ says Mr McMillan, explaining his choice. ‘The missing element was colour management,’ he continues. ‘We knew the advantages of Agfa’s Apogee workflow so Asanti was a priority and then we saw that Agfa offered the “complete solution”. As well as the Anapurna printer, inks and Asanti workflow there was the Acorta cutting station so we invested in the whole package.
‘Setting up this wide-format display division has been a considerable investment for my company and I can honestly say that Agfa has been first class in supporting us.’
In general, it seems that the key to wide-format success is to do your research; try before you buy, and strike up a good relationship with your supplier. And once you supersize, the sky’s the limit…
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