Wide Format Solutions
Sound Control Services in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire has installed an EFI Vutek Pro 32r.
This 3.2 metre wide roll to roll LED printer replaces a Vutek QS 3200 hybrid printer.
‘We have definitely branched out because we have really had to justify buying a printer of this calibre. With this new machine we can do so much more, and it has presented us with more opportunities. It has opened up a whole new world,’ said Jim O’Shaughnessy, owner and managing drector, Sound Control Services.
Sound Control Services provides a wide variety of acoustic solutions including panels, foam, blankets, baffles and vibration damping materials for customers in the education, corporate, community, industrial, marine, media and military since it was set up by Jim O’Shaughnessy – an acoustics engineer back in 2003.
Five and a half years ago, the company purchased a Vutek QS 3200 printer to enable it to cope with the growing number of branded acoustic wraps, which up until this point were being outsourced.
‘We weren’t really that bothered with it as we are not printers but our construction clients kept asking for printed acoustic building wraps that made us delve into the whole process a little more, and led to the purchase of the Vutek QS,’ said Jim.
‘We produce large volumes of architectural products such as panels that hang from the ceilings, baffles that reduce unwanted ambient noise in large spaces such as gyms, halls, lobbies, and wall panels. However, now we have got the ability to print on the fabrics that surround these products – the Pro 32r produces really fantastic prints at really high quality,’ he said.
In addition to new projects, the Pro 32r has set the company up nicely for panel refurbishment work not only for existing clients but also for customers who originally bought panels from elsewhere.
‘We can rewrap in corporate colours and graphics. We are doing a job at the moment for a customer that had some acoustic panels installed but then got taken over by another company that wanted to brand these with all its corporate colours. We bought the panels back here, and then printed them to the specific RAL colours,’ explained Jim.
The company decided to replace the QS-3200 due to its age.
Sound Control Services had enough acoustic work to remain ticking over during the lockdown, and by September began to get very busy again. However, the installation of the Pro 32r in April this year shifted it into another gear. Jim said, ‘We have not even really advertised that we have got a new Vutek printer but it has got out through word of mouth. While our existing customers have been keeping us very busy, we are always looking to develop new products.’
