Thanks

Imprint has taken delivery of an Eagle and can now offer an exciting new service to its clients with major benefits that have never been available or thought of in the company's 21 years of business.

The Newcastle company has screen, litho and large format digital printing and is one of only a handful of printers in the country offering all these services in-house. The Eagle completes and complements the vast range of services it can offer.

With a print area of 2,440mm x 1,600mm (95 x 62ins) the format of the piezo inkjet Eagle gives Imprint the ability to produce high quality print onto an unlimited range of substrates.

Jim Taylor, one of the partners of Imprint, says: "We looked at other machines and compared them but nothing was of the same standard in terms of the quality of print, ease of use and type of inks used. We have dealt with Sericol for a long time (our operations manager was an ex-employee of theirs) and we knew that if they were the distributor we could trust the machine."

The company hopes to build on its business, taking new work from existing clients and adding new markets and customers.

"Customers love the concept and those who have visited have been knocked out by the quality and flexibility and can see where they can use this type of facility," says Mr Taylor.

Early print runs have included work on wood and metal. The company also wants to work on boards and fluted PVC. It recognises that many ideas will be customer-driven as the market looks to make the most of the Eagle's ability to print on all surfaces which could not previously be achieved.

Average print runs are expected to be up to 150 and the company is producing most work at 540 dpi, a midway mark on a machine that can offer 360 to 720dpi. Another advantage is that proof work will be taken from the actual machine used, therefore giving an exact match.

"We have Encad and HP four- and five-colour digital printing machines but the Eagle is a different level. It eliminates mounting and encapsulation and the Eagle prints edge to edge. In getting rid of these finishing steps we save time and can be even more responsive to customers. If we receive a disk one evening we can deliver a proof next day," says Mr Taylor.

Staff have received comprehensive training. Installation engineers gave a broad introduction to the machine and then the Inca Digital trainer spent a full day with the operators. Sericol will provide a further 1.5 days instruction on the Wasatch RIP. Imprint is the fourth UK installation for the UK but the Eagle is also selling well internationally.