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22 PRINT.IT 0870 903 9500
Wide Format Printing
Wide appeal
PrintIT asks Richard
Turner, marketing
manager for Wide Format
Printing Systems Océ
(UK) Ltd., about new
applications for wide
format printing.
“Historically wide format
printing has been sold
to architects, consulting
engineers and construction
companies for printing
technical drawings, 3D and
graphics work. Recently due
to the economic situation we
have had to fnd new markets,
and technology developments
have made us think about
where we take the product to
market,” Turner explains.
“We still see the traditional
applications, but we
are also seeing
map printing becoming more
important. For example,
Ordnance Survey has introduced
OS Select for print-on-demand
maps. Maps are used in
business, leisure, marketing and
defence, but you can’t have a
laptop with your maps on if you
are up hiking up Snowdon or on
a military expedition.
“When we launched
CrystalPoint technology (a new
printing technology used in Océ
ColorWave products that offers
the best qualities of inkjet and
laser technologies for B&W and
colour output), we recognised
that it was ideal for mapping: it
is fve times quicker than inkjet,
water resistant and can be
printed on indestructible media
– you can take it out in the rain
and mud. The quality
is up there with
litho and the
resolution is
spot on.”
Another
application
highlighted
by Turner is
poster printing
for point of
sale and point
of purchase.
“In the past,
such material
has been screen
and litho printed
in big runs but
more people now need small
print runs: posters don’t last six
months any more – they only
last a week. We saw a need for a
cheaper poster printer but with
high quality and high productivity
levels. So we launched the
ColorWave 600 Poster Printer:
it is three times as fast for A0
output, so the combination
of productivity and quality is
unrivalled.
“We have people who have
bought these for their own in-
house production. Some may
only produce 100 posters a
month but the great thing is that
they can turn it around in a day.
They can produce a poster today,
print it today and have it up in
the shop tomorrow.”
The limitation of Océ’s poster
printer is that it has a width of
42 inches and is a plain paper
device, though Océ is expanding
available media and now offers
adhesives and blue backed
media. Purists might also point
out that it is not UV stable.
“People used to argue that UV
stability was a limitation because
toner is not UV stable. But we’ve
had prints up in people’s shop
fronts for a month or two months
and it’s fne. Typically posters
have a life of a week. If you need
a poster for a year you would
need something like an Arizona
which has UV curable inks,”
says Turner.
Another beneft of CrystalPoint
technology, according to
Turner, is its versatility. “Where
there has been a tradition of
decentralisation in the past, the
ColorWave 600 allows people to
consolidate devices because it
can do CAD, graphics, posters
and mapping. The Faculty of
Art & Design at Manchester
Metropolitan University is a good
example. They bought one and
liked it so much that they bought
another two to replace six HP
machines.”
www.oce.co.uk
One company for which UV
curable inks is a necessity
is central London-based
Screaming Colour. It recently
expanded the range of
printing services it offers by
supplementing its HP Indigo
and KBA 74 Karat digital
systems with an EFI VUTEk
QS2000 digital ink-jet
printer.
The addition of its frst wide
format printer has enabled
Screaming Colour to produce
a diverse range of larger-sized
applications, including posters,
banners, point-of-sale, retail
advertising and exhibition
graphics at resolutions of up
to 1080 dpi and a maximum
width of 2 metres.
As part of the selection
process, managing director
Iain Moring drew up a list of
requirements, which included
UV-curable technology
because of its versatility on
different substrates, plus
good print quality and short
turn-around times as these are
qualities on which Screaming
Colour has built its reputation.
Other important criteria
were a long track record in
the digital sector; the ability
to offer a good return on
investment; and compatibility
with Screaming Colour’s green
credentials, which include
ISO14001 in conjunction with
ISO9001, plus FSC and PEFC
accreditations.
EFI VUTEk QS2000 scored
highly in this regard as its
UV-curable ink produces no
VOCs and it can be used
with recycled and recyclable
materials (rigid and fexible).
Phil Phillips, head of the
retail communications division
at Screaming Colour, has been
impressed by the versatility
and diversity of printed output.
“The addition of a wide-
format printer which uses
UV-curable ink means we
can output to a vast range of
fexible and rigid materials.
We handle a considerable
amount of work for agencies,
and this gives us the ability to
produce creative applications
as well as more traditional
posters and banner graphics.
Working with rigid materials
has also led us into the feld
of cardboard engineering and
three-dimensional applications
being used increasingly in
point-of-sale,” he said.
www.ef.com
Phil Phillips,
head of retail communications,
Screaming Colour
UV for fexibility