“The missing link in our production processes was the print,” says product designer, founder and operations director of the company Phil Roberts. 

He adds: “We worked with external printers and struggled to get the quality and accuracy demanded by us and by required our retail clients.  We are always on a tight deadline so moving this process in-house made sense.”

In a trend that is building critical mass, RDD has chosen to stop using outsourced print-service-providers and has instead invested in an Agfa Anapurna FB2540i LED.

RDD Creative offer point-of-sale (POS) concept designs, one off prototyping, larger scale manufacturing, and installation for many of the UK leading retail brands.  RDD largely work with advertising agencies, POS companies, and sales promotion clients who in turn work for retailer brands. Their success is reflected in a turnover jump from £200k per year to the equivalent per month this year, and a staff growth from three to 45 people over the same period.

Roberts continues: “One morning I searched on Linkedin, found a local print specialist Josero Ltd and talked with them about our requirements to buy a printer to give us more control. I knew we employed people with the required skills to get a better result, they weren’t printers, but they’ve worked hard to get the machine to dovetail beautifully into our processes and I’m delighted with the result.”

RDD’s managing director, Deborah Walker, adds: “It was a sizable investment for the company, but Agfa worked closely with us from the start, demonstrating what could be achieved and training Tomasz Ek, our gifted designer, to get the most from the press.  Some of our work on cosmetic POS requires tiny tolerances in print, like small halos around cut out plastic circles and the team has worked tirelessly to get the press bedded in to its own room and created special jigs to ensure the printers accuracy. Our staff create minor miracles every day and the machines we buy are critical to that success, we are all pleased with the results from our new girl ‘Ana Purna’.”

The Agfa’s Anapurna FB2540i LED is a high-speed six-colour plus white LED-curable flatbed inkjet press that allows borderless printing on any rigid and sheet material. It also incorporates UV LED lamps for curing on heat sensitive materials like self-adhesive sheets or stretch PVC materials without deforming the substrate.  It also comes complete with the Asanti workflow that can communicate with RDD’s CNC machines.

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