Saica Pack, the corrugated packaging arm of the Saica Group, has installed a Mimaki JFX200-2513 EX UV LED flatbed printer at its newly built flagship packaging manufacturing facility at Livingston, Scotland.
The new site includes a customer experience room and technical office which houses the new Mimaki JFX200-2513 EX UV flatbed alongside Kongsberg digital cutting table and CAD equipment. Here customers will spend time with designers and project managers to visualise concepts in 3D.
“The set-up in Livingston was developed so we could create a real customer experience within the business. We’ll be able to run innovation days with the idea that the customer will spend a whole day with us, develop packaging solutions and leave with fully printed samples of the concepts we create on the same day. We also have customers that require really small runs for one-off launches that are below our minimum order requirements for production. Having the Mimaki here gives us the added flexibility to provide small one-off runs for these types of requests, adding to the level of service we can provide our customers,” said Louise Morgan, Scotland region technical office manager.
She added: “The addition of this new technology to our business not only improves the service we can offer our customers but it has also been key in helping develop our designers. We have a lot of multi-skilled talent within the team and this has allowed them all to branch into new areas of training and development that wasn’t possible before. With support and training from CMYUK we will be able to build our team’s knowledge to get the best out of the machine and quality we can give to our customers.”
This is the third Mimaki JFX200-2513 EX that CMYUK has supplied Saica Pack in the UK, the first model having been installed at the business’ central design facility at its UK HQ operation PM11 in Manchester five years ago. A second model was sited in Wigan for use by the north west office technical team in 2018. All three flatbeds are specifically used for prototyping across a diverse client base such as FMCG, e-commerce, and large brands.
“We utilise the Mimaki JFX200-2513EX primarily for product development. We use it to print directly onto corrugated board to help customers visualise packaging concepts and this can be anything from a single sample up to 100 prototypes. It’s fantastic in the sense that it allows clients to improve their speed to market,” said Matthew Pomorski, creative marketing manager, Saica Pack, UK and Ireland.
“The printed samples that we produce are able to feature white ink, spot varnish and embossed areas. Accurate colour reproduction, impressive speeds and ease of printing onto our corrugated substrate have added a new dimension to our digital mock-up service. We have also found the Mimaki very useful for producing bespoke marketing and display material. The range of finishes and ability to print onto a diverse range of substrates enables our teams to unleash their creativity.”
The Saica Group has more than 10,000 employees across the UK, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Turkey, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the USA. It is comprised of four business areas: production of recycled paper for corrugated board (Saica Paper), waste management and environmental services (Saica Natur), production of corrugated packaging (Saica Pack) and flexible packaging (Saica Flex).