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Other Irish News
The objective is to demonstrate the various aspects of signage production available to printers today based on the versatility of the Roland series of large format printers, Seal laminators and the wide range of substrates available from Glacier's international suppliers such as Sihl, Seal, MACtac and others. Visitors to each show will be able to watch print demonstrations on a range of Roland machines including the AdvanceJET AJ 1000, the SolJET PRO 111 XC - 540 , the VersaCAMM VP - 300 and the CAMM - 1 PRO GX - 500 Vinyl Cutter. Glacier will also have a Seal Image 62 base laminator and a demonstration of car wrapping by specialist vehicle wrap company Revolution. Jonathan Keane director of Glacier said, "We have a huge range of machines available from Roland and with media and ink prices at very competitive prices it's now very feasible for printers to invest in this technology. The show will highlight print, cut, laminating, mounting as well as vehicle wrapping." The move by Glacier into hardware sales a year ago has certainly bourne fruit for the company. It has also continued to introduce new innovative products such as a textured wallpaper range from Seal, which is scratch resistant, has a B1 fire rating and can be printed digitally. All are easily applied wallpapers requiring no special skills or tools. Other new products include MACtac Wall Wrap 100, specifically designed for direct application on to Brick Walls, MACtac JT5499R for use on glass window advertising, displays, signboards, and backlit applications, and MACtac LF3398 - a matte finish optically clear adhesive for vehicle wrapping. Declan King, director of Glacier added, "As part of our development plans we have also restructured the company."Ray Sisson has been appointed General Manager and we have also employed a further sales representative, Stuart Butler." RolandDG's divisional country manager for Ireland Dave Rainsford further commented, "Glacier Print Supplies are now one of our main dealers in Ireland. We see growth in the traditional commercial print market where historically companies have outsourced large format work because in some cases they just felt it was too specialised. I suppose we want to try and demystify this myth by showing them what is involved in the production of signs, vehicle wrapping etc." Contacts: Snap Printing, Irelands' largest business print and design group have announced an investment in the group by two new shareholders, David Moffitt and Peter Cosgrove. The deal involved Snap Printing selling 50%of the company's equity to the two new shareholders who will now join the board with all existing shareholders remaining within the business Group. The company has also announced that David Moffitt has succeeded Michael Kearney, who founded Snap Printing in 1984 as chairman. Both Moffitt and Cosgrove are experienced corporate executives with considerable direct print industry knowledge. A spokesperson for the company said that as Chairman, David will work in a support role to Muiris Murphy, Managing Director, to grow the Snap franchise network in the Republic of Ireland and to develop it into new markets such as, Northern Ireland, England etc. Snap Printing is a franchise business and is wholly Irish owned and funded, with royalties paid to the Australian Snap Printing Group annually. Each Snap Printing centre is owned and operated by individual franchise owners. Snap Printing was a winner at the Irish Franchise of the Year Awards in 2007 for the third time and a National Finalist at Printer of the Year Awards 2007. Contact:
Graffixx Signs located in this busy midland town is a typical sign making business which has grown dramatically over the last few years to the point where the company has just installed a Canon imagePROGRAF IPF 8000s 44 inch and a new Grand Sherpa Universal 65 AM, 64 inch fully solvent printer with bulk ink supply to increase the companies production capacity. Founded by Robert McIntosh who originally trained as a graphic designer Graffixx Signs specialises in vehicle and banner graphics and also photographic prints. "Originally I designed work for clients and printed these on vinyl using a large format printer," McIntosh explained. "Any litho print jobs I received were sent out to trade houses then but to-day I have become a bolt on franchisee to a company called Printing.com in Manchester. It has a large production hub which takes care of all my litho work. However the core of my business is large format printing which in the early days was produced in house on an Epson 9600 with any solvent vinyl print work outsourced to VamBeck signs. At that time the idea was just to build up a sufficient critical mass of business to invest in my own machines." The installation of the Grand Sherpa Universal 65 AM has given Griffixx Signs the ability to produce all the companies' vehicle and outdoor signage in house. This is a significant move by Graffixx enabling the company to take full control of all production jobs and at the same time improve its cost base. "There is also huge demand from businesses in this area for indoor banners and point of sale posters," said McIntosh. "Another is from professional photographers that require large photographic prints up to 44 inch for use as exhibition backdrops. The Canon IPF 8000S produces superb reproduction and is ideal for this type of work because none of the photographers can print up to a 44 inch size. "The Canon also uses far less consumable than the Epson which means that we get a better return and it can also produce prints which can be used outdoors for short periods of time. I feel there is a need in the midlands for a company such as Graffixx Signs since so much of digital print investment recently has been geared to-wards the construction industry. The main population centres in the area have experienced phenomenal growth over the last few years so the potential for strong growth is out there."
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VentureShield Paint Protection Film product is a heavy duty vinyl in pre-cut form which is used to protect the paintwork on cars from road chip damage and every day wear and tear. Revolution use pre designed template software which allows vinyl to be cut to shape on the company's three Graphtec cutters. "We have full print and production facilities at our factory in Mullingar," explained Ryan. "The company has a Roland ProJET 11 54 inch print and cut machine as well as a number of Graphtec vinyl cutters We also have a drive in bay here as well which will facilitate up to seven and a half ton vehicles, such as cars and small buses. However the company is probably known more for its wrap installations because we do a considerable amount of trade work for other sign companies who don't have the competence or expertise in this field." Contact:
"The two key fundamentals which allowed me to open this new branch now were the availability of the right premises and the right person to manage the new venture because it was never going to make sense if I had to divide myself between both operations each day. We had some very good customers already from Mullingar which we were servicing from our Athlone branch but we really were not able to fully penetrate and develop the business opportunities in the Mullingar market from Athlone. The town itself is a thriving centre in the midlands and like all such towns it has one large generational printing company called Fagan's with only a handful of small competitors. From a business perspective I suppose one of the main reasons I opened this new centre is that business doesn't transfer all that well from Mullingar to Athlone and traditionally that's just the way it works." The two Snap centres in Athlone and Mullingar are both stand alone digital print operations. Production is based around three Xerox DocuColor 260's, two Xerox 4112's high volume printers and a Canon imagePROGRAF IPF 8000 large format printer. All litho and speciality work is fed to Snap Printings main printing hub in Dublin. "From a printing and finishing point of view Mullingar needed to be a self sufficient digital production unit from the very start, " stated O'Rourke. "We have been successful in Athlone and I see no reason why we can't emulate that in Mullingar as well." Contacts:Snap Printing Mullingar P: +353 44 9397533 W: www.snapprinting.ie Back to top After an MBO in 1997 Aidan McGlynn took over the reins as Managing Director of the company and to-day Advantage Printers is a major player in the POS market for retail outlets. Like so many screen printers however changing customer needs, shorter and more varied print runs has meant that for certain jobs digital print is now far more competitive than screen print. Marie Clabby, Director of Advantage Printers explained some of the reasons. "We are a screenprinting house primarily but like all things there comes a time when we had to evaluate our production methods due to some of our customer requirements," she said. "Point of sale work for retail units, hanging signs, shelf talkers and outdoor superlites are the cornerstone of our business and until recently we have managed this on three screen printing presses. About two years ago we bought an Agfa Grand Sherpa and that really opened our eyes up to the benefits and flexibility of digital print." The Tempo/HP FB6100 UV printer is a hybrid wide format printer with a 3.2 m x 2 m printing table which is capable of printing on rigid or flexible substrates such as vinyl, glass, wood, corrugated boards, and foam-core boards as well as standard paper, blue back paper, SAV, banner and flag material. The machine can achieve speeds up to 100 m2/hr in 4 and 8 colour printing modes using UV curable inks which contain no volatile organic compounds (VOC). Tom McIntyre, sales manager of Reprocentre Group which supplied both printers commented: "The tendency for a while now has been for run lengths to get shorter particularly in Ireland. Screen printing is no longer competitive at this level which is the reason Advantage Printers installed the HP Scitex FB6100. They also had a requirement to produce high quality prints for close up viewing and this has been addressed by the installation of a 60 inch Canon imagePROGRAF iPF 9000S as well."
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