Large Format Review - Business News

Mutoh America has announced the 'Trade-Up' printer programme.  Customers in the USA can now trade in any brand printer over 30 inches wide and receive incentives to purchase a new printer from Mutoh.

Programme incentives include up to US$6,000 off the purchase price of a ValueJet 1624-64" or ValueJet 1324-54" printer.   Customers can also take advantage of leasing options from Mutoh Financial Services and end of year tax incentives.

Mutoh designed the programme to offer wide-format printer owners an easy way to access newer technology without breaking the bank. Mutoh hopes that everyone looking to Trade-Up to newer, faster and more reliable technology will benefit from this offer.

"Mutoh has launched several new printers this year and we want people to take advantage of these newer technologies," shares Brian Phipps, General Manager of Mutoh America Inc. "We know that times are tough, so we wanted to create a lucrative incentive for our loyal Mutoh customers and those that want to improve their printing capability and keep up with innovative products."

The Trade-Up programme is available until December 31, 2011 and valid only on the new VJ1324 and VJ1624 printer models.

This programme is not being offered in conjunction with any other Mutoh programs. Shipping, installation, training and ink are available, but not included with the Trade-Up programme.

To learn more about the Trade-Up programme and Mutoh's products, please visit www.mutoh.com

INX Digital International and Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Solutions (GRS) have entered an agreement for Avery Dennison to offer its ICS Performance Guarantee to customers using TRIANGLE inks for specific media.  The Avery Dennison ICS Performance Guarantee involves Mimaki JV3, JV33 and JV5 printers with TRIANGLE JVS or BVJ inks, Mutoh Valuejet 1614 series printers, and the Roland Soljet and VersaCAMM series with TRIANGLE’s MLD or EDX inks.

This is not the first time INX Digital and Avery Dennison have collaborated to offer customers the Avery Dennison ICS Performance Guarantee. Past agreements involved solvent inks and this deal covers the majority of INX Digital’s wide format inks including EDX, the newest addition to the product line. Ken Kisner, INX Digital President, said this agreement satisfies one of the requests made by customers.

“By offering end users this warranty, we are reassuring global customers of the durability of the inks with the laminates and media Avery Dennison offers. This also helps the printer develop more business from people who request jobs that come with a warranty, which offers peace of mind,” Kisner said.

“Avery Dennison was the first media and laminate manufacturer to work with us years ago before Triangle Digital LLC joined the INX International Ink Co. family. We’ve continued to work together to offer solutions to printers and it’s our hope this relationship continues to grow. We can and will continue to trust one another to respond to industry requests by supplying top-notch quality products.”

INX Digital’s TRIANGLE brand inks provide value and many benefits for the alternative market. EDX is a fast drying ink with low odour and offers significant cost savings when compared to OEM wide format inks, typically saving customers 30-50 percent.

Avery Dennison Graphics and Reflective Solutions offers sign shops, commercial printers, graphic converters and designers a wide variety of choices in pressure sensitive materials for applications such as fleet marking, retail graphics, interior décor or external graphics.

For more information, please visit www.averygraphics.com

Digital Print Innovations Ltd (DPI) has been appointed as approved supplier for Wasatch, adding to its growing portfolio of quality wide and super wide format print and colour management equipment.  DPI is also an approved UK supplier of high end flatbed UV printers from Virtu, Jetrix and Novus and is an expert in colour management, traditionally specialising in Onyx RIPs to drive their recommended printers.

Stewart Bell, MD of DPI explains where the Wasatch RIP fits in to its product line.  “We were approached by Wasatch to look at their RIP and test it out at our new Digital Print Innovation Centre in Derby, which we did and were really pleased with the results. We tested it on some of the smaller printers we sell including the new Mutoh Valuejets and Seiko printers and found it to be an excellent RIP that is not only easy to learn, it could easily handle everything we threw at it under test conditions."

He continues, "Wasatch SoftRIP offers a good value solution to our customers that need a RIP. They also get all  the bells and whistles without having  to pay an arm and a leg to get the job done. The modular aspect of the Wasatch RIP however means that as the customer grows, they can also easily add any of the optional features such as cutting, variable data and support for other manufacturers' printers as their capabilities grow in line with their business strategy. The great thing about this RIP is that there is no penalty for adding or upgrading at a later stage.”

The Wasatch SoftRIP has drivers for almost every brand of wide format printer including HP, Canon, Epson, Seiko, Mutoh, Virtu, Jetrix and many more. It differs from most other expensive packages as it has a modular format – you purchase the basic RIP and then add only the modules you need. It’s simple and uncomplicated with a very user-friendly interface. Specialist modules include Contour Cutting and Textile Print.

Phil Pirie of Wasatch comments, “DPI brings to the market a very unique model in terms of wide format reseller. They bring a fresh approach to selling wide format and super wide format print equipment in opening their Digital Print Innovation Centre for printers and signmakers to properly test their files and jobs prior to making a new investment. They are renowned in the UK for their colour management expertise so we’re delighted to appoint them as an approved supplier for the Wasatch SoftRIP.”

For more information on DPI and the Wasatch SoftRIP, please visit www.dpi-uk.com.

Trade Signs UK, a specialist trade supplier of bespoke manufactured sign systems and online consumables, has signed up Clarity Marketing to 'revolutionise' its marketing operations.

Clarity Marketing, a trading division of Clarity Software, is a software system based purely 'in the cloud' at www.clarity-marketing.com and is available to anyone; regardless of whether they have a Clarity MIS system installed.  It has been designed to make it easier for small and mediium-sized businesses - including sign and display companies - to manage and deliver successful online marketing campaigns.

With prices starting from just £10 per month, Clarity Marketers can use the simple designer to publish branded and personalised bulk email messages to users. The system tracks the open, click-through and forward rates, and creates graphical charts and graphs to present detailed reports in an easy, quick-glance view.

Haylee Benton, Trade Signs UK's marketing and operations manager, explains, "We needed a way to keep track of how effective our marketing was being and needed our email promotions to be read by all.  Our email server was always being clogged up with the emails we were trying to send to our 7000 strong database, so with Clarity Marketing being an online tool hosted by a third party, this made perfect sense."

She continues, "Clarity Marketing's layout completely flows and is so simple to use.  It lets you move freely and easily to find contacts within a large database, making it stress-free to build highly targeted lists.  The first email promotion we published using Clarity Marketing resulted in an increase in quote volumes of 50%.  We've also increased our average order value from £2000 to £3000.  This proves that more people are seeing our promotions - I'd thoroughly recommend Clarity Marketing to anyone."

 

Leicesterhire-based Revolution Transfers has become a reseller for CGS Publishing Technologies International, a global leader of colour management solutions, digital proofing systems and specially formulated media. Revolution Transfers will represent the CGS packaging and large format colour management products in the UK, particularly concentrating on end-to-end solution bundles, including the award-winning ORIS Color Tuner // Web and Roland DG’s VersaUV LEC and VersaCAMM VS printer ranges.

"We have been highly successful in selling the innovative Roland DG VersaUV LEC print, cut and crease range in the UK, which enables printing onto our own stock with white and gloss inks. As a natural extension, we immediately saw the enormous impact Roland’s VersaCAMM VS printer/cutter series would have on the flexible packaging market”, states Jan Edgecombe, Managing Director of Revolution Transfers.

“The VersaCAMM VS printer/cutters feature eco-solvent ink technology that will deliver highly colour accurate proofs, with integrated print and cut within the same device, and include white and metallic ink on media that is an incredibly close match to the substrates used in the final production. However we recognised the included RIP could not fulfil the demanding colour management requirements of the packaging industry,” explains Edgecombe.

“When Roland DG introduced the ORIS solution from CGS, we were immediately enthusiastic about it. Taking the complex requirements of the demanding packaging industry into account, ORIS Color Tuner // Web enables you to produce results which are absolutely stunning.

CGS also provides a full range of substrates, ranging from an ultra-thin clear film to metallised film and even shrink foil. We can therefore offer a complete end-to-end solution, including hardware, software and media, along with reference profiles, complete with the option of special, value added white and metallic ink,” concludes Edgecombe.

Steve Chappell, Business Manager at Roland DG (UK) Ltd comments: “We are absolutely delighted with this new agreement and it is fantastic to be the first to the proofing and packaging market with an end-to-end solution that can utilise both metallic and white ink. Revolution Transfers are really opening up a variety of options for these customers, with the use of special inks and effects that can be created on Roland’s printer/cutters. Both Roland VersaUV and VersaCAMM products offer customers a wider range of printable materials whilst reducing printing costs when compared to water based proofing technology.”

"We are very pleased to be working with Revolution Transfers. Their team has an outstanding reputation in the UK market and a broad expertise in colour management, which is necessary to understand the requirements of complex environments like the packaging industry,” states Heiner Mueller, Director of Communications & Business Development at CGS.

“The tie-up with CGS and Revolution Transfers now enables Roland DG to offer a colour managed solution for the eco-solvent VersaCAMM VS range as well as the VersaUV LEC range, providing a cost-effective end-to-end packaging proofing solution that includes both metallic and white.” Müller concludes.

For further information about Revolution Transfers, please visit www.revolutiontransfers.co.uk.

For details on Roland DG’s VersaUV LEC or VersaCAMM VS printer range, suitable for the flexible packaging market, please visit www.rolanddg.co.uk

For more information on colour management from CGS, please visit www.cgs-oris.com .

[photo shows Jan Edgecombe, Revolution Transfers (L), Steve Chappell, Roland DG UK (R) with a Roland VersaCAMM VS-420]

Antalis McNaughton has agreed to support DPI's newly opened Digital Print Innovation Centre - a new wide format print demonstration facility in Derby - through the supply of a range of substrates.

Antalis McNaughton supported the two recent Open Day events held at the Digital Print Innovation Centre during which visitors were able to view a range of printers and equipment for the large format print industry along with a new exciting 3D media from Antalis.

“We are delighted that Antalis McNaughton has agreed to support us by supplying the Digital Print Innovation Centre with substrates.  It is excellent to be working with them as we move forward with our series of Open Days, demonstrations and training events where visitors can not only see the latest print technology but now also test the latest media,” commented Stewart Bell, managing director of Digital Print Innovations.

Chris Green, Sign and Display Market Manager for Antalis McNaughton adds, “The Digital Print Innovation Centre in Derby is an exciting and dynamic addition to the sign and display industry and we are really happy to be supporting Stewart and his highly experienced team.”

Digital Print Innovations Ltd was founded in 2009 by Stewart Bell.  The Digital Print Innovation Centre opened in October 2011 in response to demand from customers and suppliers.  Equipment available to view includes Seiko Colorpainter W64s running Eco IX inks, the new Jetrix 2513 FRQ, Virtu RS25 Quantum and ESKO Kongsberg XP and a range of wide format roll to roll printers.