Reported sales of wide-format inkjet presses have been skyrocketing across the British Isles as print service providers invest to keep up with their growing orders for anything from custom posters to printed textiles.
London firm Genix, for example, has recently installed a 3.2m wide MTEX 5032Pro direct-to-textile digital printer, which also happens to be the UK’s first. The 25-year-old company, which moves to a new production centre in Tottenham Hale earlier this year, invested in the new machinery to expand its range of large-format products.
Genix sales director Andrew LeMaire, explains the theory behind the investment, saying: “Soft imaging was the last wide format print technique that we didn’t have in our stable. We have UV but it isn’t the same—with the MTEX the material still feels like fabric without the stiffness of the UV, which simply lays the ink on the surface.
We see a good outlook for the wide format market, that’s why we are making these investments”
“We knew the way forward a while ago but hadn’t been able to take this step until now as we needed to upgrade the size and accessibility of our production area.”
Genix is one firm aligning itself with the market demand for print providers to be a one-stop-shop for customers, and the press investment is a direct result of this.
“We see a good outlook for the wide format market, that’s why we are making these investments. With the new MTEX we’ve now got in house aqueous, solvent, UV cured, latex and dye sub printing and we truly can offer our customers the complete solution,” finishes Andrew.
Another first time, this time for Ireland, comes in the form of the recently launched Mimaki JV300 solvent digital inkjet installed by Dublin firm Horizon Digital Print. Though the 1.6m press is somewhat dwarfed by Horizon’s grand-format outfit, it seems to have become an essential addition to the team.
Glasgow firm, Introscan, intends to bring as much work in-house as possible by investing in HP’s Latex 360 wide-format press
Horizon’s digital manager, Kenneth Kavanagh, explains. “What we’re loving about the JV300 is that it gets on with the job, quietly and unattended, freeing up manpower to be used with the bigger machines.
“Even better is that we are finding the speed and quality it brings is allowing us to divert an increasing number of jobs away from larger machines and over to the JV300, so it has been running continuously since it was installed. There has been a definite increase in productivity since it came on board, and it’s low maintenance too.”
North of the border, Glasgow-based wide-format specialist Introscan has also been setting its sights on productivity expansion by opting to invest in HP’s Latex 360 with Onyx Rip. The company prides itself on keeping up with the latest technology in order to meet current demands of customers and always looking towards the future.
In today’s market it’s important to keep as much work in house as you can, and the new technologies are making that possible”
Graham De Kock, CWE commercial director comments: “In today’s market it’s important to keep as much work in house as you can, and the new technologies are making that possible. With this new printer we can continue producing the staples—posters, pop ups, pull ups and A-boards - whilst diversifying into outdoor applications.
“We’re also now looking at working more with temporary textiles and soft signage in the future, and the next time an order for flags comes in we’ll give it a go.”
With new press installations like these cropping up across the British Isles, it would seem the industry is moving from strength to strength in the wide-format sector.
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