Super-Wide Digital has bought a GS5500LXr Pro for printed backlit and textiles
To feed and manage its four EFI VUTEk printers, Super-Wide Digital turned to EFI again for MIS technology and Digital StoreFront web to print.
Adopting UV-LED inkjet printing with EFI VUTEk printers has allowed Super-Wide Digital in Bacup to develop and offer new products to its customer base. Starting with its first EFI VUTEk machine in 2013, it added three more in the following three years. In the summer of 2016 the company went on to order a fifth machine plus one of the latest models as an updated replacement for its first EFI VUTEk.
Founded in 2000 by Anthony Drogan, the company offers a wide range of large and grand format printing, exclusively as trade services with no direct sales to end users. Its customer base includes sign makers, other digital printers, screen printers, litho printers and exhibition companies. ‘Many of our trade clients already have a smaller machine, up to 2.0 metres, occasionally 3.2 metres,’ explains business development manager Luke Drogan, who is the son of founder Anthony. ‘We are a print partner for them. We offer them more capacity or higher speeds. They can send us 5.0 or 3.2-metre work, or flatbed work that they cannot do in house. Or they can send us overflow work and free up their own capacity. We can go in with clients to the tendering if they wish, and we will work with them throughout the whole project.’
On the up
This approach has served the company well. Since it was set up it has needed to move to larger premises twice. In 2012 it moved to its current site, a large 3500 sqm factory on the outskirts of Bacup, a former textile weaving town nestled in the Pennine Hills about 15 miles north of Manchester. Since then it has extended internal space by 1000 sqm by adding mezzanine flooring.
Over the years Super-Wide digital has adopted printing and finishing equipment from many leading suppliers. ‘We re-invest as necessary and ride the development waves,’ says Mr Drogan. ‘We don’t always want to be first, as that has led to headaches in the past. But when a new technology is viable, that’s when we invest. We invested throughout the recession, which is why we are where we are today.’
The start of something big
The company’s first use of UV-LED cured inks came in 2013 with the installation of its first EFI VUTEk machine, a roll fed 3.2 m wide GS3250LX Pro. Compared with “conventional” mercury curing lamps, LED-curing lamps last longer, cost less to replace, use less power, need little maintenance and also run very cool. This cool running means that it is possible to use thinner, more heat-sensitive materials, which cost less to buy, less to transport and can be easier to handle. For example the company has developed floor graphics printed on clear vinyl by the GS3250LX, with no need for protective lamination.
‘It totally changed our business,’ says Mr Drogan. ‘We can be more flexible and print onto a lot more substrates. The quality has been everything we wanted and expected.’
The company soon added more EFI VUTEk machines, starting with a second GS3250LX Pro. ‘Because of the savings and our good relationship with EFI we pushed on and bought a 5.0 m GS5000 LXr Pro for flexible media,’ Mr Drogan explains. ‘This is for printed backlit and textiles.’
The 5.0-metre machine is able to print two separate rolls side by side, as a very productive addition to its ability to print very wide media. This has proved so successful that Super-Wide Digital ordered a second 5.0 m machine to sit alongside it, delivered in July 2016.
The company often prints white as a sandwich layer with colour front and back, to produce day/night backlit posters with consistent colour when viewed during the day by reflected light and backlit by night. ‘We use this for backlit skins for lightboxes in retail parks and shops, Mr Drogan explains. ‘Compared to acrylics they can be one-piece for large units, so they are easy to install at any size. We have done one recently that was 5 x 3 metres.’
Going flat out
The company’s fourth EFI VUTEk is an HS100 Pro fast flatbed printer, with a mix of LEDs for fast pinning and mercury lamps for full curing. This can print up to 100 3.2 m boards per hour, with variable gloss and wide colour gamut capabilities. ‘This lets us take on a lot more print and be more responsive, to really offer something new,’ says Mr Drogan.
The HS100 Pro enables the firm to be more responsive
It has also ordered the latest 3.2-metre LX3 Pro hybrid UV-LED machine, to replace the company’s first GS3250LX Pro. This will give improved throughput and greyscale imaging.
Stepping up the Pace
Now Super-Wide Digital is also working on the adoption of an EFI Midmarket Print Suite workflow, which features Pace MIS software, to handle its production and business operations. Once that is up and running it will implement the EFI Digital StoreFront (DSF) to accept customer orders online. ‘We expect to understand our company a lot better, by seeing real-time data and being able to move and adapt schedules in real time too,’ says Mr Drogan. ‘The Midmarket Suite makes it a lot easier to push products to the DSF, so we’ll implement that at the end of this year.’
Selling the more standardised jobs online will aid office efficiency.
‘A £30,000 job or a £10 job all take admin time; if we can channel the easier jobs online we will be more efficient and cost-effective,’ adds Mr Drogan. ‘Customers will see their own jobs in real time, with more information to them but reduced use of resources by us.’
It will also be an important aid to marketing, he predicts: ‘Previously we have tended to rely on word of mouth. Because of that a lot of our customers until recently only knew of one or two of our products. DSF will let us show them all our product range.’
Service with a smile
Mr Drogan has high praise for EFI, not only for its products but also for its service levels and general business approach. ‘We have a very good relationship from top to bottom with EFI. We can speak to anyone in the USA or Europe and feel they treat us as equals. With any company there is the odd issue but EFI is a lot more responsive than some other suppliers. They’ll work to get you up and running first, and maybe argue about the issues later.
‘Everyone is welcoming and we have friendships rather than business relationships with a lot of the hierarchy there. It is refreshing. When we go to shows worldwide, EFI makes us welcome. But the most important thing is that the equipment works, and that is fantastic!’
Visit www.efi.com for more information about EFI inkjet and production workflow products or call 0808 101 3484.
This article is an advertorial; the featured company created the wording and paid for its placement. It has been thoroughly checked by Whitmar Publications to ensure that the information is accurate and meets our standards.
