“The nanosolvent display films give an increase in colour gamut and densities. They also lower ink usage because it fixes the ink load at the top rather than dissolving into vinyl,” he says.

Littler went onto say even though less ink was being used, the wider colour gamut was being achieved:  “We're still trying to quantify what percentage saving it is for different machine types, but it's quite significant.”

He adds: “The backlit vinyl has been selling very well (at FESPA). The quality on the latest Roland series and the Epson’s is almost up there with aqueous, which for solvent is incredible, as the cost per square metre is very low.”

Littler also claims that Ilford's decision to move away from being an OEM supplier for sign and display is paying dividends.

“It's grown dramatically – we took a focus two years ago to really do something with the sign and display market because Ilford had been the industry's best kept secret,” Littler explains.

He adds: “We'd been doing sign and display since 1993 and most people didn't realise as most of the business was through OEMs. We're now making a bit of noise and selling through our channels as ourselves.”

Finally, Littler says that trade shows are still a “significant part” of Ilford's marketing budgeting: “We do get a lot of leads through and we find them quite effective.”
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