Australia’s first Massivit 1800 Pro has been installed at 70-year-old Sydney signage and display business Coleman Group with plans afoot to grow 3D print as a new medium amongst existing and new clients with the door also open to trade work.

Coleman Group has been on the front foot when it comes to the adoption of technology during its decades of operation with 3D printing the latest avenue business owners Glenn Coleman and Rod Peter have chosen to explore to deliver something new into the market.

Coleman Group was one of the first Sydney signage companies to invest in a CSR vinyl cutter back in the 1980s and then 13 years ago created the Fab Frame display system in Australia, after seeing something similar at a European trade show.

Initially Peter, who had in the last few years witnessed the applications available through the Massivit during trips to the US, was the most interested in going down the 3D path and eventually managed to convince Coleman to visit Fespa earlier this year to have a look at the Massivit, which is distributed solely in Australia through Graphic Art Mart.

The deal was formerly inked at PrintEx19 with Peter and Coleman coming together with Graphic Art Mart’s branch manager Michael Liveris and Massivit regional director Asia Pacific and Japan Bernard Sun over a glass of champagne.

“I’d been looking at them but I convinced myself that there was no chance we would ever use it, but on my last trip to the US I started to see a little bit of movement in the market and seeing how they were working,” Peter told Sprinter.

“So I came back from that trip and said to Glenn let’s go to Fespa and have a look at it because I was quite interested by then. Then Glenn saw it and he became interested.”

How Coleman Group will put the Massivit to use has not yet been pinned down.

“Initially the Massivit will service our existing clients and we will be inviting them in and allow them the opportunity to come up with the concepts and ideas of how they would like to use it. We will just explain our capabilities and let them come up with what they think they can do with it,” Coleman told Sprinter.

“We see this as an opportunity to introduce this product to people that don’t even know if they want it yet.

“We’ve taken a gamble that there may be a market out there with our unique clients and we think our clients deserve the first run of an interesting product that is a bit different and can print 3D on demand with a clean finish.”

There are still many  unknowns about how 3D printing can be applied but Coleman and Peter are confident they will appear.

“I imagine we can match some of the products up with some of our exhibition clients which is not being done at the moment.  That’s where I think the market is,” Coleman said.

“But we are open to any market and any sort of printing in any particular sector. It doesn’t just have to be exhibition, we will do anything.”

“I think there is a link there for some of our existing clients.”

Peter and Coleman are also happy to talk to any printers that may be looking for some 3D trade printing.

“We are happy to print for anybody who needs anything done,” Coleman said.

“We are open to any market and any sort of printing in any particular sector. It doesn’t just have to be exhibition, we will do anything.”

There are three other Massivit’s now in Australia. A Massivit 1800 at Artcom Fabrications in Western Australia, a Massivit 1500 at Sydney’s Composite Images and another in Victoria.

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