Wide Format Bi-Directional Digital Print For POS

Aelen and Van Leeuwen Zeefdruk has taken one of the first Inca Spyder 320 printers in The Netherlands, its debut in wide format digital printing.

Aelen and Van Leeuwen Zeefdruk has taken one of the first Inca Spyder 320 printers in The Netherlands, its debut in wide format digital printing.

The company is broadening its portfolio beyond screen-printing, and it wanted a digital machine to meet that positioning.

Nico Aelen, who is the co-founder and joint managing director with Jan van Leeuwen, said: "We looked in detail at a number of suppliers but because of our emphasis on quality it was Inca's Spyder that was convincing.

When we had first seen the Spyder demonstration it was uni-directional in its printing but it is now bi-directional and that sealed our decision, for the additional speed it delivered." The Spyder 320 is seen as a complement to the company's updated Svecia silkscreen machine.

Both presses have a 160cm width but the Svecia can only print up to 215cm length whereas the Spyder can achieve 320cm.

Aelen and Van Leeuwen's Spyder is a four-colour machine, which suits its market for point of sale and advertising materials, which are mainly produced on, corrugated and Esko boards, PVC foil, polypropylene or polystyrene.

Retail, indoor graphics and outside advertising are its key markets.

There are distinct national differences in these markets.

For instance in Holland most bus advertisements are on self-adhesive foils.

Aelen explained: "Our initial view of the Spyder is that the technology is straight forward.

You only have to know the setting and to have experience of Mac-based job creation to get jobs right on the sheet.

We may well consider a second Spyder in future and we would look at the six-colour option we may consider the white option but these were not available when we were first looking and also were not right for our first machine." There is an option for four-colour Spyder 320 users to upgrade on-site to a white or six-colour model, as the Spyder is a modular machine.

One of the first jobs run on the Spyder 320 at the Hillegom-based company was a big polystyrene contract from a photo developer who wanted to produce work for display at a nationwide retailer within the Netherlands.

Although most of Aelen and Van Leeuwen's work is for buyers in The Netherlands much of the finished work is exported to the UK and the USA and the company is happy to handle export contracts.

The partners created the company six years ago.

They had 20 years' experience in silkscreen but wanted to create a company that would invest in top-line machines and be really technologically advanced to give customers the quality and service they felt was possible and required.

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