Features

This year’s Widthwise survey showed that when it came to R&D, you wanted manufacturers to place an onus on reducing the running costs of large-format printers. So are they?

One of the key findings in the technology section of Image Reports’ annual Widthwise survey was that when it came to where print companies most wanted to see printer manufacturers put their R&D spend, it was in reducing the running costs of the large-format printers they make. So of course, we asked a number of key players about where this issue currently figures in their R&D strategy and what they are doing to try and make the kit more efficient. Some where happy to outline their thoughts and actions, but from many quarters the response was a deafening silence which can only leave one to wonder about the kind of feedback potential customers get from suppliers when they ask the sam, increasingly asked, question!

Nessan Cleary takes a look at the automated cutting tables as they return to the UK market.

Many readers may remember seeing the DYSS X7 series of automated cutting tables when they were launched in the UK last year. However, the tables have been hard to get hold of since the original distributor, B&P Graphics, went into administration. But earlier this summer a new distributor, AG/CAD, took up the baton and has since installed a demonstration model at its Cheshire office.

The Birmingham-based wide-format signage and graphics service provider has transformed itself into a beast of a company, and here’s how.

The Forum of Private Business is calling for small firms’ patent rights to be better protected amid concerns that many cannot afford to sue companies which steal their ideas.

David Nicholas, managing director of Birmingham-based large-format print specialist Fosco Hayes and Hurdley asks the question after going through the accreditation process. It has significantly improved his business. So what about yours?

What ‘green’ demands are print kit manufacturers/suppliers being faced with from the UK’s LFP community, and what are they doing to meet them?

If you’re handling print for any of the big retailers you know how vital your ‘green’ credentials can be to winning, or losing, a job, and that the sustainability argument you put forward increasingly includes the environmental impact of the kit you run. So do you ask pertinent questions of the suppliers about the kit they sell before you buy it? And do you get satisfactory answers?

The display and signage market led the way but now other market segments are following in its wake, realizing the potential of digitally printed textiles and flying the flag for the UK.

Move over Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, we all have the ability to become interior designers now. Just take a look on the Internet and you will find a number of businesses offering you the ability to turn your illustrations, designs and photographs into curtains, cushions, shower curtains, roller blinds, huge canvas triptychs and more, so much more.

This is the fourth consecutive year that Image Reports has conducted the Widthwise Survey, asking printers of all sizes about business, market and technology issues. During the last four-year period, the large-format industry has been revolutionised by technology and economic turmoil. Since that shake-out, the pace of change hasn’t slowed but that change is typically now more incremental than transformational.

Dispute resolution is becoming an increasing problem for print companies. Here, Philip Thompson, head of BPIF Business, explains what you can do to prevent problems from arising, and how to manage them once they have.

Should you get involved in textile print and will iT boost business? Here’s what some already involved in the process have to say about its impact on their operations.

There’s been a surge of new machines this year, but who’s going to buy what? Sophie Matthews-Paul comments.

Digital textile printers now cover the entire gamut of investment paths. Key introductions thus far have concentrated mainly on dye-sublimation, although there are other options coming on line, but for the purposes of the display sector, this remains the most popular process.

New work-based QCF NVQs have been developed for the print industry by print professionals. So will you be using them?