Your Print Solution has invested in GMG’s ProductionSuite to support expansion of its business into wide-format production. The six-year-old digital print specialist is initially using ProductionSuite to drive a new 60in HP DesignJet L26500 printer, complementing an existing Epson Stylus Pro 9600 44in printer.
Increasing demand for poster and other large-format work from customers such as the Wimpy Restaurant franchise for whom Your Print Solution provides print via an HP Indigo 7000 digital press, in addition to the Epson printer, meant that additional capacity was required. Having been a GMG customer since 2004, director David Jackson was more than happy to continue to use GMG solutions to maximise colour quality and consistency from the new HP printer:
“We’d been using GMG since 2004 because it was the best proofing solution out there, so when GMG showed us ProductionSuite alongside the L26500, we thought if anyone knows colour, they do,” explained Jackson. “GMG ProductionSuite includes technology that’s familiar to us, but with many additional features for wide-format output. We’re producing increasing numbers of A1 and 24 x 36in posters via our Web-to-print portal for Wimpy, typically in runs of 30 or 40 at a time, so the larger printer made sense.”
Jackson added: “We work to the Fogra 39L standard on the Indigo and Epson printers to match offset print that is produced elsewhere for our customers. With GMG ProductionSuite, we know that we are hitting that reliably on the HP as well, because everything is measured. Not only are we matching colour across devices and substrates but, perhaps more importantly, we are providing consistency over time, from one month to the next. Sixty per cent of our customers who place work for the Indigo are also buying wide-format work from us now.”
GMG has built dedicated functionality for wide-format production tasks into ProductionSuite; this ranges from pre-flighting and file correction tools to planning for efficient use of media via step-and-repeat and tiling options. It also includes support for the placement of non-print features such as hems and grommets, plus cutting and folding instructions for the finishing processes. As relative newcomers to the intricacies of finishing products as diverse as pull-up banners on vinyl or POS displays mounted onto board, the staff at Your Print Solution have found the know-how built into the GMG software to be a great asset:
“GMG ProductionSuite has definitely helped our move into wide-format work,” confirms Jackson, adding, “We hadn’t dealt with banners, eyelets or hem-ons before, but the software has great educational value in helping us to understand wide-format issues. The Editor module is very easy to use; as well as allowing a high level of editing, it assists with handling the calculations that relate output size, viewing distance and image resolution, for example.”