Gardners invests in an EFI Vutek HS125 F4 from CMYUK

Print Solutions

CMYUK has installed an EFI Vutek HS125 Fast 4 (F4) printer at Cardiff based Gardners.

The HS125 F4 is Gardner’s 17th digital printer in its current roster, designed for continuous shifts and 24 hour industrial production capabilities. It is set to become a central powerhouse in the company’s main production processes. All work from Gardner’s existing HP 7600 printer has been migrated over to the HS125 along with significant amounts of roll and sheet output from the company’s other 5 metre wide fleet.

Gardners purchased the HS125 because primarily it had a requirement for a 3 metre wide printer that offered blistering industrial production speeds at super high quality – attributes that traditionally have not been achieved at this level.

‘The EFI Vutek HS125 F4 will sit alongside our Durst 1330 as a mainline printer,’ said Richard Courtney, managing director, Gardners. ‘It will become a main printer for us to provide a significant amount of extra capacity to service additional retail work. It will also help deal with ever decreasing lead times, and will boost capacity by increasing our opportunity to say yes.’

The investment includes the advantage of three quarter loading for multiple rigid sheets. ‘The addition of the three quarter automation has allowed us to produce longer print runs with a single operator in turn creating capacity,’ said Adrian Hallett, Gardners’ operations director who oversaw the implementation programme.

Due to the immense production speeds of the printer and to enhance workflow visibility, Gardners has installed a camera on the printer’s gantry giving the single operator a 360 degree view. It has also added its own self engineered roll to roll off line cutting system, which it has integrated to the front of the printer. This has further contributed to decreasing finishing times.

‘The printer has bedded in very well,’ said Adrian. ‘It is outputting 150 sheets (8 x 4 foot) per hour, hitting rates that were advised. The printer is going to be a very, very good asset for us.’

This is the first time that Gardners has purchased a printer from CMYUK. ‘It has been first class service. The product turned up on time, was installed within the suggested time frame and followed on with excellent operator application training and production support. We had a couple of teething problems on the machine but it was all rectified swiftly through EFI and CMYUK,’ said Adrian.

Training took place on-site over a two week period with on-going support from Amira Bouchiba, CMYUK’s training application specialist.

CMYUK is highly experienced in the installation of large and complex printers, and it employs a highly regarded strategy of onboarding, a process where one of its application specialists is placed on-site for a two week period following on from the initial operator training.

‘Our onboarding process is designed to support press operators to become confident and proficient as they transition from training into real life production. We ensure that things that are taught are not forgotten, and the endless functionality in the technology is recognised, understood and utilised. There is no room for mistakes,’ said Robin East, director CMYUK.