Graphic Tech proves to be more than a Californian dreamer
California-based full services printing firm Graphic Tech has converted screen jobs to digital, cut turnaround time and reduced ink consumption having upgraded two HP Scitex TJ8500 to HP Scitex TJ8550 printers.
"The core of the HP Scitex TJ8550 is speed and in POP mode we're achieving approximately 40% higher print speed," said Jim Blee, Graphic Tech CEO. "This means that we can process larger jobs on the upgraded digital printers that we would have been able to print on our screen presses. So we can now efficiently shift more projects from screen printing to digital printing. The printers also facilitate shorter time on press and use less ink, which means that we can drastically increase our customer response times while reducing costs. And, all of this without any reduction in quality, which is very significant.?
"This machine moves you beyond traditional typewriter-style inkjet (carriage) devices and into a different production environment. It's not for very small quantities, but if you are going to produce large projects then it's an ideal machine for a high-production shop. We have a specific customer whose printing jobs were always done with screen printing due to their size and length, and now we have shifted that client to the HP Scitex TJ8550 printer permanently."?
For banner production for large-format posters, window decals and graphics, Graphic Tech's short run digital printing capacity was raised from 120-150 sheets to 300 sheets in a run. This was significant in the case of a national fast food chain that required a large amount of promotional POP signage for the ongoing marketing testing of 20- 36 different menu items.?
"Without the TJ8550 printers, we would have used traditional screen format printers with exceptionally high operating costs and extremely long production times. This would have been dramatically expensive relative to the small number of components that were required," said Blee. "The project required a high level of quality and colour management. The most challenging part was matching the colour of the printing to the commercial proofs. We were able to achieve this because of the wide colour gamut of the ink used with the TJ8550 printer, and the pigment hues that we could manipulate and colour manage effectively. We were given four to five days to print after receiving the finalised files and it only took us one and a half shifts."
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