Stepping from the employed world to starting a print business can be a daunting prospect, but for Glenn Wrigley the ambition of moving from city life to the Cornish coast was all the incentive that was needed. Seven years after making the life changing decision to re-locate and conceive Print-2-Media, Mr Wrigley is reaping the rewards of his decision with the help of a DYSS X7-1624C digital cutting machine from AG/CAD.
Mr Wrigley relocated to Liskeard near Plymouth and started his business with a single Roland XC540 printer and just one customer. With extensive experience and a contact list from previous employment, the new business initially started by producing outdoor signage for agricultural events in the South West. This soon blossomed from signage for organisers of 'events in fields' to the show exhibitors. The rapidly expanding company has since acquired a series of Fuji, Roland and HP large format printers with a maximum print capacity of 1.5 by 3m.
Commenting upon the development of Print-2-Media, company founder Mr Wrigley says: "The business grew organically, but our location was somewhat restrictive to our growth ambitions. We employed a web designer and now over 60% of our business is conducted on-line via our website. This has transformed our business and only 20% of our work is for the local market with 80% of our work being distributed nationally to trade customers and re-sellers. The diversity of our printers enables us to print on all types of media, producing everything from stickers and posters through to PoS and shop signage."
The growth and increasing diversity of work at four employee Print-2-Media resulted in a surge in production of foamex, Di-bond and acrylic signage, which the company had difficulty cutting by hand. Whilst its vinyl cutting machine was suitable for posters and stickers, the company needed a more robust solution and immediately reviewed the CNC cutting table
market. A full review of the various vendors resulted in the purchase of a DYSS X7-1642C with K-Cut vision system and Kasemake software from AG/CAD in February 2015. The results have been astonishing.
What has the DYSS brought to Cornwall?
With online business and the increasing diversity, Print-2-Media was either subcontracting the cutting work out to another company with a router or they were turning work away. The investment in the DYSS X7 has immediately eliminated the subcontracting costs, shortened lead-times and improved product quality. As Mr Wrigley continues: "We wanted to move into selling PoS products on-line and we couldn't cut precision shapes or forms into our substrates and we couldn't cut Di-bond and acrylic at all, so we knew we were limited by our cutting capability. The DYSS has immediately brought 20% growth to our business as we no longer turn work away. For example, we are currently producing mobile Di-bond photo booths for weddings for a customer in London, this would have previously been impossible. Additionally, we are cutting batches of 50 to 300 A4 foamex signs frequently, manual cutting would have been too time consuming. Similarly stickers in batches of 50 to 300 are jobs we do 2-3 times a week that would have taken 5 hours to cut by hand. This is now done in 20 minutes on the DYSS, saving upwards of 15 hours a week."
The DYSS has reduced outsourcing and its associated costs 100%, grown the business by 20% and, in the few short months since its installation, the DYSS is already bringing in an additional £3,000 to £5,000 of business each month. This increase is from work that would have previously been turned away.
But Why Buy the DYSS?
Whilst the benefits and impact of the DYSS are obvious, there were underlying aspects of the machine that made Print-2-Media choose the AG/CAD-supplied machine over its competitors. As Mr Wrigley continues: "First and foremost, AG/CAD were very receptive to our needs and instantly appeared knowledgeable and helpful. The features of the machine make it the best offering on the market when combined with the exceptional service and support we have received. Now, we wouldn't look anywhere else if we needed another machine in the future."
From a technology standpoint, Mr Wrigley says: "We informed AG/CAD that we wanted to cut everything from Di-bond and acrylic through to the production of our own corrugated card boxes to distribute our products. To this end, AG/CAD suggested the three tool station 'Super Head' with the capacity to accommodate routing, knife, creasing and kiss cut tools that would automatically be selected without manually changing over the tools. This enables us to use the router to create 'location holes' for the K-Cut Vision system if required. We can also use the knife and creasing tools for producing our corrugated boxes. The K-Cut registration system is outstanding and will pick up any pre-defined point and orientate the job according to the datum points, which we now print on all our jobs. This ensures every job is 100% accurate and free from operator error."
Whilst the K-Cut Vision software and Super-Head tooling station were primary factors in the purchase of the DYSS machine, two key factors were the build quality and the Kasemake CAD software suite. As Mr Wrigley recalls: "We looked at other machines and the build quality and rigidity of the DYSS really stood out for us. We instantly identified it as a high-quality machine. However, the Kasemake software was the defining selling point for us. This software is developed in-house by AG/CAD so they can fine tune it to our exact needs and keep us updated and fully supported. We now use the Kasemake suite to design and produce our own boxes to deliver our products. This reduces the cost of buying boxes, eliminates the need for storage space for stock size boxes, ensures every box is the correct size for the end product and above all, it makes our delivered end product more presentable."
Moreover, as a company that produces signage for agricultural events, Print-2-Media has been making excellent use of the in3D environment modelling software feature within Kasemake. What this has given Print-2-Media is the ability to mock-up exhibition stands for customers. By generating a full, live 3D model of a stand concept using this powerful software, the customer can be sent previews of their proposed design as photo-realistic images or even a walk-through video, all prior to ordering the actual project. By enabling the prospective customer to visualise their concept, Print-2-Media has utilised this 3D-environment modelling feature as a great sales tool to win new business and up-sell services to its customers, as well as a useful method for proofing.
In conclusion, Mr Wrigley says: "The DYSS was a big investment for our business, but a necessary one. It has helped us to expand our customer base and the type of work we do and the results in a short period since installation are evident. The DYSS has immediately grown our business by 20% and this will ensure the machine has a payback period in less than 2 years. We now wish we made the investment even sooner."