Market Harborough’s Visual Marketing and Graphic Services (VMGS), installed a 3.2m Mimaki and 2 cutters in January 2023.
The POS specialist’s investment saw it buy a Mimaki UJV55-320 3.2m UV LED press, Kongsberg X24 Edge digital cutting table and a Graphtec FC 9000-160 cutting plotter. All of the kit was purchased from CMYUK, a reseller.
VMGS’ latest spend builds on its 2019 haul of a Mimaki JFX200-2513EX flatbed and UCJV150-160 UV LED press, with which the company managed to bring its production in-house for the first time.
Ken Mardon, co-director at VMGS, said the new 3.2m press’ installation has put the company in a position to expand significantly.
He said: “Not many [local] Businesses can use a super-wide printing machine, which places us in a strong spot especially in the Leicester area.
“Companies here are outsourcing their 3.2m work further afield with ten to fourteen-day lead times. We can guarantee a much faster turnaround and we’re on the doorstep. So, marketing wise, we’re starting local and then emanating outwards as far as possible.”
When the first investment round was made, the company was turning over £600,000 annually; by the end of 2022, it had grown to £1.5m.
Mardon said that it was an easy decision to purchase another Mimaki press.
“I don’t want lots of different machines running from different RIPs. Production should run smoothly. I would like production to be very simple if, for instance, the production manager is not feeling well. [for them] because they know the Mimaki printers inside out,” he said.
However, it took longer to choose a cutting board.
“Mark and I have been in the industry for a long time, so we know about digital cutting tables, but deciding what we were going to buy and from whom, took us 9 months.”
The firm’s relationship with CMYUK, and Kongsberg’s reputation in the market sealed the deal in the end, Mardon added.
The business purchased a Kongsberg X24 Edge milling spindle, camera and standard kiss cut, drag, and VMGS creasing heads.
Mardon stated that even after Mardon’s first job, which was a 100m banner run for Mardon, the digital cutter had clear advantages over hand-cutting.
He added: “It’s early days yet, so we can’t say how much more productive we will be, but with this first job, our throughput increased by 30% and I’m being conservative.”