Banner Box, a Chesterfield-based supplier of dye sublimation print, has installed a Mimaki TS55 -1800 transfer inkjet printer from CMYUK.
The company, which already operates three other Mimaki printers as well as an EFI Vutek FabriVu 340, purchased the TS55-1800 to help meet increased demand. The printer will be used to print both soft signage and sportswear, a sector Banner Box branched out into two years ago.
‘It’s a division that we set-up to complement the Banner Box side of things. It’s owned by us, operated by us and run by us but under a different name (Young Gun Sports),’ explained director Ryan Shelton. ‘We staff it purely from the Banner Box side, so depending on where the influx of work is, our staff move around accordingly. It works seamlessly with the infrastructure that we already have available to us. We saw that there was an opportunity in the existing market to set-up an additional business and compete that way.’ Banner Box is looking to possibly replicate this satellite business model and is now looking closely at décor and interiors as a possible next move.
The TS55 1800 offers optional accessories to aid long-term continuous operation. These include a Mini Jumbo Roll Feed and a 10 kg bulk ink Supply upgrade, both of which reduce running costs due to shortened downtime. An additional extended heater, when installed to the lower part of the standard heater, speeds up ink drying.
‘The Mimaki TS55-1800 is really good in terms of quality, speed and ease of use, and it gives us the opportunity to add various functionality in the future to ensure long-term 24/7 operation at highly economical running costs,’ Mr Shelton finished.
Banner Box purchases around 95% of all the materials it uses from CMYUK and is a dedicated user of Pongs for all its digital textiles. It has also recently been introduced to Beaver Paper dye-sublimation media, CMYUK now supplying it in the UK and Ireland.
