Stafford-based Sapphire Curtains & Graphics has invested in an EFI Vutek Q3r printer from CMYUK.

The UV LED dedicated roll-to-roll printer has a maximum print width of 3.5m.The equipment purchasing decision was shortlisted between Durst and EFI, but the latter sealed the deal due to its ability to lay down a clear coat during printing.

Mark Wayman, general manager at Sapphire Graphics, said, ‘Years ago, it was just plain curtains, but everyone wants livery on their curtainsiders and not just the back doors now. A good 90% of my production is livery on curtainsiders. Nothing plain really goes out the door now. With the new Vutek printer, we’ll be looking at printing 14 pairs of truck curtains per day, whereas with our old solvent machine, we’d be doing about two and we’d still need an additional 24 hours of de-gassing time.’

Prior to the installation of the new printer, the company utilised traditional manual signwriting practices alongside digital solvent printing produced with Mimaki solvent technology purchased some years back. The company claims its manual signwriting process was also a time rich, labour-intensive process, taking place once curtains had been manufactured and completed with the required buckles, rollers, and reflective tape. The sign-writing team would either stencil or sign write them by hand, a procedure that produced between two to six pairs of curtains per day depending on the complexity of the design.

Mr Wayman added, ‘Outmoded production processes and inefficient workflows that created bottlenecks were daily headaches. The month prior to the Vutek Q3r being delivered, I calculated we had £60,000 worth of curtains sitting inside my signwriting department that we weren’t able to raise invoices for because they were unfinished. Now we UV print the graphic first, then manufacture the curtains and deliver them to the customer in a day rather than the 3-4 turnover cycle we had before.’

The Vutek Q3r is housed in its own room and looked after by a single operator. A suite of Mimaki equipment is situated in an adjoining area that includes a 3.2m printer for trucksiders and two models (2.5 and 1.5m) solely used for the printing of solid vinyl livery.

In the last five years the company has expanded into wrapping commercial vehicles. Going from flat solid trailer wraps, it now covers a variety of commercial vehicles including tractors, motorhomes, and cabs.