CP Arts has elected to halt all screen printing operations after investment in a new Agfa Jeti Tauro 3300 UHS
Exeter-based print business CP Arts has revealed how its recent investment in a new Agfa Jeti Tauro 3300 UHS print machine has led the company to halt all screen printing.
Purchased in December, the Jeti Tauro 3300 is the third Agfa wide-format printing machine to be installed at the company’s Exeter site. CP Arts took the decision to invest in response to a rising demand for its services.
However, the purchase also rendered CP Arts’ remaining screen printing machine redundant, meaning for the first time since the 1970s, the company is no longer offering large-format screen print.
“I had always thought that I would retire before the silkscreen process was decommissioned at CP Arts, but that’s not now the case,” explains John Skudder, director at CP Arts, adding: “In early 2000 we recognised screen printing was a declining process and kept an eye on the digital machines in the marketplace at that time.”
CP Art’s first venture into the digital world came in 2012 with the purchase of an Agfa M Press Leopard. Its first Agfa Tauro machine followed in 2017, with the new investment marking the third Agfa install.
“With the Agfa Tauro, while the print quality was outstanding at the time and it took further work from our screen lines, it is only this year that we feel ready to decommission our final screen print line,” Skudder says.
“Our second Tauro was installed in December as a direct replacement for our first Tauro machine, 30% increase in production capability and with varnish facility it has freed up a significant amount of space and reduced energy consumption.
A UV LED wide-format inkjet printer for use with rigid and flexible media, the Jeti Tauro 3300 features rapid UV LED curing and the low ink usage of Greenguard-certified inks. Other key features on the UHS model within CP Arts include six colours plus white and primer, as well as eight rows of print heads and eight CMYK colour bars.
James Nicholls, production manager at CP Arts, adds that such has been the impact of the latest machine, the company could consider further investment in the future.
“This was a substantial investment and with technology moving at pace, we have to depreciate the asset over a short period, so it’s a large commitment,” Nicholls says, adding: “It has been functional for three months and the reliability, speed and quality are impressive. For any investment, we look for a long-term relationship and are happy with Agfa and intend to stay with them.
“Since purchasing the new machine, we have gained additional business that we would not have won without it, when we clear the space made by our multi colour screen line, we may well be looking to order a further Tauro machine.”
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