Horizon orders a second Agfa M-Press Leopard

Less than six months after the installation of its first M-Press Leopard flatbed press, Dublin-based print and design company Horizon has opted for a second machine to meet demand generated by the...

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Hollywood Monster goes for gold at the Olympics with £1m+ project

As the attention of the world focuses on London, enormous banners and huge street dressings produced by a Midlands company could be seen by more than four billion TV viewers.

Birmingham-based signs and graphics specialists Hollywood Monster has been creating some of Europe’s largest ever banners which are being installed at Westfield Stratford City and the surrounding area adjacent to the major sporting venues and athletes' village.

Hollywood Monster has been working alongside retail giants Westfield on the prestigious £1 million-plus project in the build up to the world’s greatest celebration of sport.

It is the latest in a string of high-profile projects it has completed for the retail giant. The £1.45 billion Westfield Stratford City is Europe's largest urban shopping mall with over 300 High Street names and 50 restaurants.

Hollywood Monster director, Simon McKenzie, comments, “It’s a huge coup for us to work on such a prestigious project with Westfield Stratford â€" it’s part of the UK’s most ambitious regeneration project and of course it’s one that we’re really excited to be involved in.”

A creative team has been working on producing dozens of banners over the past three months at Hollywood Monster’s HQ, and its rope access installation team of 20 has been fitting the banners.

Simon adds, “The calibre of contracts we’re awarded from Westfield is very high â€" there’s lots of scope for creativity and flair, something our team prides itself on. To see the full effect of the Stratford banners is just amazing â€" they’re going to have a massive impact throughout the world’s greatest sporting event.”

Hollywood Monster has installed approximately 4,000 square metres of sustainable vinyl applications to glazed elevations around the Westfield Stratford City centre, and dozens of flags and lamp-post dressings along with a 400metre double-sided crowd separation banner on the main walkway to the park.

For more information, visit www.hollywoodmonster.co.uk.

William Smith produces translucent sign faces for M80 gantries project

William Smith has been appointed by Tegrel Limited - a designer and manufacturer of bespoke steel enclosures - to produce translucent sign faces for insertion into LED rear illuminated box signs, for installation to gantries supplied by Donyal Engineering, on the new-build M80 Glasgow Southern Orbital motorway.

The 16 sign faces, manufactured from 3M Diamond Grade™ DG³ Reflective Sheeting, ranged from 3m up to 7m wide x approx. 1.8m tall - each one produced as a single piece.

“We like to use consistent suppliers and materials to ensure traceability,” explains Tegrel’s Richard Leech. “We, therefore chose William Smith for this project, based on our long-term working relationship... and 3M materials are the best on the market as they carry all required certification.”

New slimline LED lit boxes produced by Tegrel were manufactured for this project, with a specially designed printed circuit board incorporating LEDs and an optical enhancement device to scatter light in a required pattern. This meant that a slimmer sign box could be manufactured at 100mm deep, instead of the 500mm previously required. Glasgow’s previous rear-illuminated signs were large structures using 400 watt halogen lamps. For this project a low energy LED solution was agreed, which would result in reduction in maintenance for the gantry signs as well as energy savings.

“LED lasts around five years, whereas halogen lamps require changing every four months,” comments Mr Leech.

Careful planning and quality testing was integral to the project. The sub-face, to which the 3M Diamond Grade material is applied, is manufactured from single polycarbonate and prior to production adhesion tests were carried out by 3M.

“Because of the physical size of the sign faces, we sat down at length with William Smith to discuss the methodology of applying the 3M vinyl,” says Richard Leech. “Production was a mammoth task and William Smith also did all the cutting to size. Delivery and quality were important aspects of this project and William Smith fully met these.”

Mr Leech adds, “We enjoy a very good working relationship with William Smith. They are highly conscientious while providing a friendly service.”

drupa news: Moscow-based Glav Print buys first Fujifilm Uvistar Pro8

Moscow-based Glav Print, a specialist in high quality indoor printing predominantly for the cosmetics industry, is the first company in the World to order a Uvistar Pro8 at drupa 2012. The sale was made through Fujifilm’s Russian distributor AT DESIGN.

Natalia Fomina, president at Glav Print comments, “We have been doing work for indoor printing applications in niche markets over the last 10 years and now we have a lot of customers and orders so we need additional capacity to satisfy them. When we heard about the new Uvistar Pro8 from Fujifilm through our contacts at AT DESIGN we were immediately interested. Having seen the speed that the machine is capable of, combined with the quality that our customers in the cosmetics industry are looking for, and knowing the reliability of all products from Fujifilm, we had no hesitation in placing an order.”

He continues, “We are completely confident that the Uvistar Pro8 is going to broaden our business base, and backed up by the fantastic level of local technical service that AT DESIGN offers us, as well as a reliable supply of inks and spare parts, we are very excited about what this will mean for our business.”

The Uvistar Pro8, launched at drupa 2012, is particularly suited to producing super-wide format print for both display POP and outdoor advertising markets on flexible and rigid media. It has been developed in combination with Fujifilm’s brand new Uvijet QN inks, to meet the growing demands of indoor applications, where viewing distances tend to be closer and rigid materials are more commonly used.

One of its major advancements is the inclusion of a complete set of light colours within the ink set which increase print quality without compromising on print speed. Together with its unique Parallel Drop Size (PDS) technology, this allows the printer to produce high definition Display POP graphics at speeds in excess of 300m2/hour.

Glav Print has ordered the 3m version of the Uvistar Pro8 on the stand at drupa, but has already expressed interest in the 5m version sometime in the future.

Fujifilm Acuity LED 1600 UV now shipping

The crowds turned out at the Fujifilm stand at FESPA Digital to see the Acuity LED 1600 UV inkjet printer that features a unique, low-power consumption LED UV curing system. The company reports that...

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Fujifilm supports local community as headline sponsor of Bedford River Festival 2012

Organised and run by the events team at Bedford Borough Council, the Bedford River Festival (21st - 22nd July) benefited from the support of Fujifilm as headline sponsor. As FUJIFILM UK Ltd‘s headquarters are located in Bedford, the company always makes an effort to play an active role within the local community.

The two-day Festival was held at Russell Park, Bedford and proved a great family day out. Free to attend, the 105 acre site was packed with entertainment including music, live theatre, a funfair, a play area for kids, a market village, food stalls and a bar, offering many opportunities to participate in, or just enjoy, a vast array of activities. A carnival parade took place on Saturday while a raft race in which a Fujifilm Graphic Systems team participated, was arranged for Sunday, to raise money for Autism Bedfordshire. The Festival also hosted a dragon boat race where over twenty crews battled it out over a 350 metre course along the picturesque River Ouse, and once again, Fujifilm took up the opportunity to participate.

Fujifilm had its own tent where visitors could browse the different business areas including the recently launched Astalift beauty range, medical, Graphic Systems and photographic sectors, as well as being able to participate in a photo wall competition in the photography arena. Visiting children had the option of having their photos taken with ‘Fred FinePix’ after being worked on by a professional face painter, and taking the prints away as souvenirs. There was also a dedicated craft corner that kept the children entertained and allowed them to show off their creative side.

David Satchell, Head of Human Resources FUJIFILM UK Limited, commented, "Although we have been operating in Bedford since the 1980s, we moved our HQ here in 2007 and we are delighted to have the opportunity to be the main sponsor of such a prestigious event and to support charities in this way."

A trio of Seiko II (SII) ColorPainter W-64S printers installed at ASAP UK

Since breaking into the full colour solvent-based ink printing market with its first Seiko II ColorPainter 64S around ten years ago, ASAP UK has remained loyal to the brand. Earlier this year, the company installed three new Seiko II ColorPainter W-64s at its offices in Southampton, citing speed, quality and reliability as the key features.

ASAP UK has been supplying signs, print and many other branded items to satisfied customers since 1997. In that time the company has established a reputation for being efficient, professional and competitive whilst delivering a friendly, personal and proactive service, taking on complex projects and unfazed by challenges.

ASAP’s reputation is built on its ability to deliver top quality graphics very, very quickly. Jason Terry, the company's managing director, explains, “Customers know they can ring us any time during the day and we will usually get their order to them the same day. Even orders taken after 5pm can often be delivered by first thing the next morning. It is this commitment to meeting short term requirements with top-quality output that has led to excellent long-term customer relationships. In turn, much of our new business results from personal recommendation from our customers.”

ASAP UK works for large and small organisations, nationwide and locally, in both the private and public sectors, also offering services to trade customers. “We produce a huge variety of work on our solvent printers, including vehicle graphics, outdoor displays, contra visions and a lot of work on canvass and blue back media. We have also purchased a couple of aqueous printers for more of the point of sale, pop-up and other indoor signage that we are being asked to produce,” says Jason.

The original decision to purchase the Seiko II ColorPainter 64S printers was made in 2005. Jason comments, “We had recently moved into full colour printing with a machine that really didn’t offer us very much at all. The ColorPainter 64S printers had been around for about a year and according to several independent sources, they were the best option from a price, performance and reliability perspective. We purchased three of these printers and they were fantastic for us, essentially revolutionising our business by allowing us to produce vast amounts of excellent quality graphics very, very quickly.”

When it became time to replace the printers, ASAP went for the HP9000  and four years later on, with the arrival on the market of the new W-Series printers from SII, ASAP looked to change again.

“We did look around at some other solvent printer options,” says Jason, adding, “There are several other options out there, but we didn’t feel any of them offered what we already had with the Seikos. We were used to the way the machines operate, their menu systems, their capabilities and their general operation. We decided that what isn’t broken doesn’t need fixing and we were delighted to take on another three ColorPainter W-64S machines from City and West Solutions.”

He continues, “We did consider one of the larger ColorPainter H-104S printers, but felt that having smaller printers gave us more flexibility to react and respond rapidly to our customers, which is the cornerstone of our business. A lot of our work is printed overnight and having three printers all running gives us more scope than just the one, albeit a faster and wider one.”

When purchasing the new printers, ASAP UK also transferred its RIP software to Caldera. Darryl Swainston, senior print manager at ASAP UK, says, “The biggest strength of Caldera is the speed with which it RIPs the images. Files that were taking 40 minutes or more to RIP before take less than 10 minutes with Caldera. This means we can be much more productive, getting through more work and more jobs.”

Jason adds, “Overall, the new printers have already made a big difference to our operation. They are faster, which means we can get through more work. The quality is even better than before and they are a bit cheaper to run in terms of ink costs. Also, they are just as reliable as our previous Seikos. I am delighted to say that the W-Series continues the fine reputation that SII has built for performance, quality and reliability.”

ASAP has also benefited from excellent support from both Colourgen and City and West End Solutions. “The suppliers have been very responsive and helpful. Any new implementation generates some teething problems, but CWE and Colourgen have provided very knowledgeable people to resolve issues quickly and professionally.”

Jason Terry concludes, “Over the last ten years, we have looked at plenty of alternatives to the SII printers, but we simply haven’t seen anything that is better. The ColorPainters are great workhorses that churn through metres and metres of top quality graphics with excellent colour matching at amazing speeds. The reliability means we can often leave them to print on their own overnight, confident that when we arrive in the morning, we will have three full sets of perfect prints. Much of our business is built on the output of our Seikos and with the new W-Series, this will continue for many more years.”

Peter French asks whether maintenance contracting is his only choice

Large Format Review's man on the ground - Signtec's Peter French â€" discusses the spiralling costs of maintenance contracts and questions whether there really are any alternative options open to print shops...

"When buying a large piece of printing equipment, it is easy to overlook the cost of machine maintenance for the second and subsequent years.  Handing over a massive cheque for the purchase of the printer itself is hard enough.  However, when the first anniversary arrives, there can be another heart stopping moment when you open the letter that advises you of the maintenance costs for the next 12 months.

Now, I know that many of you are astute and budget for such things, but - in these times of austerity - it’s very hard to squirrel away money for something you’ll need next year when you are struggling to pay the PAYE and taxes for this financial period.

When I asked our machine supplier for the cost of maintenance, the first figure he uttered rocked me back on my heels.   The parts and labour warranty cost more than 10% of the printer’s original purchase price - and I'd only had the machine a year!

Now, I know that for peace of mind, continuity of business and many other good reasons, this is the right way to go, but it chokes you a bit to hand over another eight grand.

There were other options available from the manufacturer: parts-only or labour-only contracts.  If I knew what was likely to go wrong - i.e. whether it was going to be cheap or an expensive part or whether the fix would require lots of labour â€" these could be possible options. However, on the basis that I’ve not yet acquired the ability to see into the future, these options are extremely risky and could risk putting me out of business altogether if I made the wrong choice.

I was told by the manufacturer that: "Some parts of the machine would cost £10,000 to replace".  So, were I to opt for a labour-only contract, I don’t think that â€" having forked out ten grand for a new gyro-stabilised self-latching grommet â€" I’d be much comforted by the knowledge that the £120 fitting cost would be covered by my labour-only contract.

Another word of warning: Most maintenance contracts on printers don’t include the heads, which happen to be one of the most expensive parts.  If the contract does, it may limit replacements to 2 heads per year or similar.  When we blew a main board a while ago, it took out the light-magenta head with it.  It wasn’t carelessness or poor management, just bad luck.  Had we had previous issues with print heads that year, it would potentially have cost us dear under any new warranty.

This leads me to believe that the only possible alternative to the almost unaffordable gold-plated fully comprehensive safety net has to be the parts only contract.

Or is it?

Having done further research, I’ve discovered that there are such products as machine insurance. Here you pay a monthly premium for insurance cover with a mandatory excess payable for each claim. Strangely enough, the policies I've looked at include damage or failure of the heads.

Unfortunately, with these contracts, you still need to ask the manufacturer - or another third party - to send an engineer and this is where the problems start.  Manufacturers aren't in the habit of employing engineers on the off-chance that you might call them and nor are they likely to store racks of spare parts in case you need them. I'm afraid, that the manufacturer or third party engineers will treat you as low priority; after all, they have their "contract" customers to look after first...

There is also the question of the cost of parts.  I understand that any company that holds a store of parts needs to resell at a price that allows them to recover the cost of warehousing, staffing and associated costs.  I am, nonetheless, staggered by the mark-up we are expected to pay on some items.  I have spent some of my spare hours searching for alternate suppliers and have come up with the following examples:

• Cooling Fan:  Manufacturers price £487.28; Price for same unit from UK supplier £109.00
• Encoder Strip: Manufacturers price £461.89; Price for same item from Canada £90.00 + £27.00 postage

I know I haven't got a maintenance contract, so I'm not considered an important customer but, come on, I don't expect to be punished for buying the machine and I do use the manufacturers engineers who, incidentally also come at a high price.

I always knew that large format printing was not for the faint hearted, but I didn't really understand how expensive it could get. In the past two years - and mercifully thanks to a great piece of kit - we haven't had too many issues, but they don't usually get resolved for less than two grand.

So what is the solution?  To be honest, I don’t really know.   It’s hard to recommend any particular route as there are so many variables associated with each individual business.  However, in general, I would definitely consider the following:

• Prior to purchasing any machines, always ask the manufacturer for the cost of typical replacement parts such as motors, fans and lamps up front as these will be required at some time.
• Look for parts you can source and fit yourself - such as fans and lamps.  Most machines are a clever collection of third party components married to custom circuit boards and encompassed in a nice shiny box.
• Try and push for some commitment from the manufacturer over price increases in the cost of maintenance over a lifespan of, for e.g. 5 years, to protect you from unforeseen costs.
• Finally, make sure you understand what your chosen maintenance option will cost and what it can provide. When you have customers expecting products delivered in 48 hours and the machine fails, what are you going to do?  Look at all the options available to you and weigh up the consequences of failure in advance."

About Peter French: Peter has been working in the sign industry for 9 years having spent a lifetime in IT. Specialising in kick-starting businesses, Peter worked in many diverse business sectors.  For most of the time at Signtec he has been at the forefront of large format printing with both solvent and UV technologies.

EFI posts strong Q2 and announces $180m HQ sale

The Foster City, California-based business posted a pre-tax profit of $9.1m (£5.9m) for the quarter to 30 June, up 117% year-on-year, on group sales that were up 16% at $163.9m.

However, while revenue from Industrial Inkjet and Productivity Software (previously referred to as APPS) rose 39% to $79.8m and 33% to $25.7m respectively, Fiery revenue declined 9.6% to $58.4m.

EFI chief executive Guy Gecht attributed this to the cyclical nature of the Fiery business, where revenues are reliant on sales of OEM partners production print equipment. Gecht said that the quarter had been characterised by soft sales across all OEM partners and product lines.

"Unlike with our direct businesses we don't have the ability to accelerate time to market of new products [and] as we won't see an uptick in new products until late this year we expect Fiery revenues to be down roughly 20% in the September quarter," he added.

Gecht said that one new product from one of EFI's OEM partners would ship towards the end of the year, with further launches expected from the rest of EFI's partners in the first half of 2013.

Discussing the results on the firm's Q2 analysts conference call, Gecht said that the key takeaway from the second quarter was that the strong growth in EFI's direct businesses had "more than offset the weakness in Fiery".

However, he added: "We anticipate that even 20-25% growth for our inkjet and software will not offset the current pressure on Fiery results [and] we are taking steps to more closely align our expenses with our revenue expectations."

Following a successful Drupa, Gecht said that the sales funnel in EFI's direct sales businesses was "in record shape" but that this would be offset in the coming quarter by the cyclical nature of the Fiery business and by macro economic and currency headwinds.

"Taking all factors into account we expect revenue growth of 2-3%," added Gecht.

Meanwhile, the firm is set to boost its already healthy cash balance, which currently stands at $101.8m, after entering an agreement to sell its Foster City headquarters to Gilead Sciences for $180m.

The transaction is expected to close in October 2012 and, as part of the agreement, EFI will continue to occupy the building for up to 12 months after closing as it searches for a new headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Gecht told analysts that the Board would explore all options in relation to cash usage, including a share buyback, dividend payments, and further acquisitions. On the last point Gecht said that EFI "continued to be active" in pursuit of the right deals.

Any future deals will likely mirror those of the recent past in terms of being smaller companies that will allow EFI to strengthen its presence in existing segments or to expand geographically.

The benefit of the group's acquisition-led expansion into emerging markets such as Brazil, China and Australia could be seen in its Q2 results, where revenues from Asia Pacific shot up 89% from a relatively low base to $29.6m.

EMEA sales also grew 20.9% - largely based on Drupa, where EFI introduced a range of new products, including the Vutek QS2 Pro UV printer - to $51.6m, while revenue from the Americas remained flat at around $83m.

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Hollywood Monster 'HelpHarryHelpOthers' en route to Olympic torch

Georgie Moseley, mother of brave Birmingham boy Harry Moseley, will be travelling in style to London today (Thursday 26th July) as she carries the Olympic torch in her son’s honour.

A National Express coach, which has been wrapped in a vinyl with Harry’s face on it, will transport Georgie and her family to Stamford Bridge before she carries the torch through Hammersmith & Fulham.

Harry Moseley died suddenly last October, aged 11, as a result of an inoperable brain tumour and complications following brain surgery. The Sheldon schoolboy’s selfless story touched the hearts of tens of thousands of people across the globe, including many celebrities, as he helped to raise more than £700,000 for Cancer Research UK by selling hand-made bracelets before he passed away.

Harry was nominated to carry the torch by England and Chelsea star John Terry, who was inspired by him after meeting him at an event in 2010. When Harry passed away, his mother Georgie was asked to carry it on his behalf.

Georgie says, “I know that Harry would have loved to have carried the torch himself, but having the National Express coach with his picture on is the next best thing to having him there in person. I wish the coach could hold the torch and take part!”

The coach wrap was designed and installed by Birmingham-based signs and graphics company Hollywood Monster. Managing director Tim Andrews, also a trustee of the HelpHarryHelpOthers charity â€" set up to continue Harry’s fundraising efforts â€" will accompany the Moseley family on the coach to London.

Tim comments, “We are very grateful to National Express for use of the coach, which will be seen by millions as it journeys the UK in service. The Olympic torch event will be a memorable occasion for Georgie and everyone that knew Harry. Harry’s face will travel thousands of miles from Birmingham to London, which will help to spread Harry love to a wider audience. Coach wraps are a fantastic way to get your message to new people as it travels across the country and up and down the motorway. If people hadn’t heard of Harry Moseley before they certainly will now!”

Andrew Cleaves, managing director of National Express Coach, adds, "Harry Moseley was an inspiration to the people of Birmingham and beyond and it is our privilege to name a coach in his honour.  As befits such a remarkable young lad, for its very first outing the 'Harry' coach will make an extra-special debut, carrying mum Georgie down to London to carry the Olympic Torch on his behalf."

He concludes, "The coach will then run between Birmingham and London, becoming part of our network, which carries more than 18 million passengers each year."

Hollywood Monster employs around 80 people and works with major companies including Next, Virgin Media, LilyWhites, Ann Summers, Coach, Whistles, HMV, Westfield, Carillion, Morgan Sindall, Lovell Homes, Redrow and Bovis Homes.

For more information, please visit www.hollywoodmonster.co.uk.