 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|
|
|
  For most photo labs and screen printers, their view of flatbed digital presses is that they either don't perform as billed or they're simply too slow. However, that may soon be a minority view. Minneapolis-based Cable Imaging discovered a digital press that not only met the photo lab's standard for performance, it helped land a major project with a big-name retailer and opened the doors to a previously impenetrable market. The Eagle has landed January in Minnesota doesn't sound like a time and place for history to be made. But, after a year of success in Europe, the first Eagle flatbed digital press was installed at Cable Imaging on January 14, 2002, and soon thereafter started full-scale production. "We've been running three shifts ever since," said Gary Cable, owner of Cable Imaging. A big reason for keeping the Eagle running 24 hours a day was Cable Imaging's success in landing a big contract with a major retailer. On The Mark Prior to ordering the press, Cable produced print samples on the Eagle at Inca's facility in the United Kingdom. The samples were shown to a large retail chain in the hopes of landing a contract for in-store graphics.  Without
another print solution, Cable Imaging lacked the ability to effectively
compete with screen printers to fulfil the P.O.P. needs of a large-scale
retailer.Said Cable, "Once the quantity reached 200 or 300, we lost a lot of business to screen companies." With
the Eagle, Cable Imaging was able to deliver the price point, print quality,
and lead times to secure the order.Big job. Tall order Cable Imaging's production run for this customer is large in scale with varying quantities, images and sizes. The breakdown is 96 different images, three different sizes (33.5" square, 45.5" square, 59" square), multiple substrates, quantities ranging from seven to 150 for a total of 7,000. The second and third shifts are reserved for this job so as to maximise uptime.  "We're extremely happy with the press and its performance," said Paul Precht, General Manager of Cable Imaging. "We're always a little sceptical of new presses, but the Eagle is doing better than we ever expected, or even hoped." Press features The Eagle, manufactured by Inca Digital of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, has many features that make it an ideal press for the P.O.P. market. The press is truly a flatbed designed for optimal output speed and print quality on rigid and flexible stock. The UV ink enables it to print on a multitude of substrates, including styrene, board stock, abs, Sintra®, foam board, gator board, foamex, acrylic, static cling, PVC, vinyl, mesh, wood, metals and even glass. The press can handle sizes up to eight feet long and 63" wide. Printing double-sided, a huge request in the in-store P.O.P. market, is simply a matter of flipping the board over and running it through again. The press is also simple to operate. "We're finding that one person can operate this equipment effectively," said Cable. The press offers three speeds of operation. Cable Imaging is running the Eagle on the medium speed, producing about 450 square feet of graphics throughput an hour. For them, it's the optimum speed for quality graphics and productivity. The Eagle press is fully supported by Kodak's Technical Services International (TSI) with 110 field engineers nationwide. TSI provides 24/7 support and all spare parts are stocked at their logistical center located five minutes from Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
