UV Flatbed Printer Helps Grow Turnover By 25%

One of Oce's Arizona 250 GT UV flatbed inkjet printers has helped large format printer Trade Direct to increase turnover by 25 per cent.

Trade Direct provides printing for a number of small to medium sized sign printers in Europe for whom The Image Makers is now able to produce a single print as economically and profitably as delivering longer print runs.

Printed material produced on the Arizona 250 GT does not require laminating or mounting so Trade Direct has saved money by reducing the amount of consumables it uses, said Oce.

In addition, the system, with its claimed straight-forward process, has cut the amount of time it takes to process each job.

Trade Direct is a division of The Image Makers, which is also boosting revenue by using the Oce Arizona 250 GT to demonstrate diverse ways for its customers to extend the range of services they offer.

Just some of the applications taken on by the system to date include the four-colour printing of rubber floor mats, carpet tiles, foam, PVC, flat panel doors and stained glass windows.

Paul Moore, owner, of Trade Direct, said: "We are thrilled that the system has already been responsible for a 25 per cent increase in our turnover.

The Arizona 250 GT is so flexible it can be used on a number of materials in many different ways.

Its large vacuum table allows us to jet UV curable inks directly on to even rigid, or irregularly shaped substrates to a maximum size of 1.25m x 2.5m.

It also provides work suitable for either indoor or outdoor applications." He explained: "We are achieving perfect registration on the machine, which has meant we have been able to, for example, print on to the same piece of clear perspex four of five times over to intensify the colour of the image so that it has maximum impact when it is used as part of a backlit display.

In this case, the customer is delighted with the results as this was something we'd never been able to achieve before the installation." Oce's Arizona 250 GT was launched at the company's open house event in March.

It is claimed to offer a production printing speed of 16 square meters per hour by imaging along the long axis of the substrate.

That feature maximises output as the amount of turns made by the inkjet heads are reduced, meaning more time is spent printing.

The system incorporates Oce's Variadot technology, which jets a range of droplet sizes on to the substrates to optimise quality and, as a result, produces what are claimed to be near photo-like results at resolutions of 1,440 dots per inch (dpi) or higher, meaning text as small as 6pt is legible.

Moore explained: "The system's exceptional quality was certainly the main selling point of the Arizona 250 GT for us.

I first saw proof of its exceptional output capabilities last year and before I set eyes on the machine, I knew I had to have one, so I ordered one from my Oce representative there and then.

Its ability to achieve such sharp, vibrant results at production speeds is astounding.

It is the machine that I have been waiting to own for years and the benefits it has brought to the business have already surpassed my expectations." Duncan Smith, Oce UK's business group manager for display graphics systems, said: "We are delighted that The Image Makers has achieved such swift and tangible benefits from the installation of the Arizona 250 GT.

I'm confident it will help it to continue providing a high quality service to its customers.".

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