Poole-based Quadrant2Design has ordered a second EFI Pro 16h UV LED hybrid printer from CMYUK. To be installed in July, this second model arrives six years after the first, and like its original counterpart, will be used solely for printing exhibition floors.
“Over the past 12 months, we have printed over 14,000m2 of flooring alone. Our investment in the EFI Pro 16h printers has been a major contribution to our success and the installation of a second model will increase capacity, increase volume output, and support further growth,” said operations director Ross Pike.
Now in its 25th year of trading, Quadrant2Design is a dedicated exhibition contractor that works directly with end-users, and clients that buy more than one stand a year are able to store graphics for free at the company’s dedicated storage facility that currently holds over 1,000 drums of customer artwork. Since 2014, Quadrant2Design has been the sole distributor for the modular Prestige Events System in the UK and uses it exclusively. Stands involve total graphic coverage, which the business terms the ‘100% Graphic Look’, further enhanced by photo-floors.
For its floor work, the business prints direct to 2mm expanded foam PVC product to ensure a sharp photographic finish. The 1.6m wide, hybrid EFI Pro 16h – which has a resolution of up to 1200dpi and offers four colours with white as standard – handles the heavy flooring rolls well, with its vacuum flatbed holding the material in place during printing to ensure accurate output.
“Using a roll-to-roll process wouldn’t work using this type of floor material due to the inherent density inconsistencies in the expanded foam. The pinch rollers would create a stretch in the material, so any continuous graphics running across the 1m wide drops we produce wouldn’t line up, creating anomalies in logos and print patterns,” said Pike.
“We’ve invested in a second EFI Pro 16h to increase capacity and build in a level of redundancy. If there’s a mechanical issue, which is a rare occurrence, we can continue production because we work in an industry that has very short turnaround times, big peaks in demand, and we cannot fail on a deadline. If the floor isn’t down on the morning of a show’s build day, there’s not going to be a stand.”
Pike added: “We’re delighted with the guidance and service that CMYUK has given us. The reliability, consistency, no-nonsense production, and the size of the printer is what really works for us. The routine maintenance is straight forward and keeps the printer running without issue. It’s a true workhorse and delivers what we expect.
“There are not many 1.6m wide hybrid printers in the market that have such a compact footprint, and as we know the Pro 16h was designed to go through a standard sized door. Despite having a large facility, space is incredibly valuable to us because we allocate a significant portion of it to prebuilding our stands. We fully assemble each stand to verify the quality of the structure, ensure the correct hardware is installed, and confirm that the printing of graphics and flooring is flawless. Customers can even pre preview them in advance, therefore with two EFI Pro 16h hybrid printers, plus all our other printing and finishing equipment, space was a major consideration.
Marketing manager James Vicefield added: “Everything is done in-house – nothing is subcontracted out – from the design, printing, finishing, installation, project management, and logistics. The new Pro 16h will help us maintain this.”
