Welwyn Garden City-based packaging specialist Fingerprint FO+ has installed a Roland VersaUV LEC-540 wide-format print-and-cut solution to enable it to create packaging prototypes and handle short-run applications straight from its desktop computers onto exactly the same range of media it puts through its two Heidelberg Speedmasters.
The company prints on a broad range of substrates from polypropylene, PVCs, foils and boards to more specialist substrates like Mirri reflective media. It also produces applications using clings and lenticular effects. As such, it’s critical that Fingerprint FO+ is able to produce cost-effective proofs and prototypes on-demand, as well as short runs and specials, using the actual materials used for the main print run.
The Roland VersaUV LEC-540, provided by Atech, ticked all the boxes on Fingerprint FO+’s criteria for generating mock-ups and experimenting with different materials. “Since we’ve taken ownership of the machine, we’ve gone far beyond just proofing and increasingly use it to trial new materials. Previously we were working with an aqueous-based wide-format unit for proofing but, whilst it could produce accurate colour, it didn’t offer the high levels of flexibility we get from this UV-curable system,” explained Doug McBride, sales director at Fingerprint FO+.
“The VersaUV LEC-540 integrated seamlessly with our existing abilities to output to a comprehensive range of plastics, corrugated and carton board. But now we have the freedom to explore new materials, textures, contours and finishes.”
Available in two sizes (762mm and 1370mm), the Roland VersaUV LEC-540 chosen by Fingerprint FO+ is the larger option. It incorporates low energy LED-curing with long-life lamps that are able to work with a broad of range of traditionally tricky and sensitive materials without damaging the surface or buckling the media.