Hollywood Monster has taken the UK’s first EFI Vutek 5r printer. It was installed last month by CMYUK at the PSPs Birmingham site, where its inline finishing capability is making a serious impact on production times according to MD Simon McKenzie. He said: “It’s not unusual for us to print off hundreds or even thousands of banners for big events. Previously they would all have needed trimming on our cutting table, or - dependent on size - even by hand. That entire process is now completed on-the-fly during the print process. It’s a huge productivity boost.”
The EFI Vutek 5r printer features inline X-Y finishing system for cutting and slitting, which enables the production of trimmed-to-size print straight from the printer.
According to Robin East, group director of CMYUK, the printer can produce “saleable quality mesh at 455m²/h, and PVC banner at 212m²/h. Pretty much any other material we throw at it can be printed in perfect quality at 148 m²/h.”
The machine uses LED-curing technology and allows double-sided backlit and blackout printing, has a carriage height adjustment and wrinkle analyser to avoid head strikes, and handles of rolls up to 750kg. Top resolution is 1,200dpi.
McKenzie added: “Being a long-time UV-LED printer user, we already expected increased reliability, instant on/off curing lamps, the ability to print sensitive and thin materials, reduced costs of replacement lamps and reduced energy consumption. However, the EFI Vutek 5r goes beyond that and delivers a number of new features aimed at running cost and waste reduction, including higher ink efficiency and a reduction in media wastage (just 40cm of wasted material per load).
“With multiple roll changes daily, combined with the volumes that we print, the reduction in media waste will result in us saving many thousands of square metres annually - over its lifetime, the media savings alone will make a significant contribution towards the machine’s purchase cost.
This is the sixth EFI Vutek printer to have been installed for Hollywood Monster in the last 12 years.