Big Image “doubles turnover” with major inkjet investment

An Adelaide trade supplier had doubled its turnover in three months after investing about $400,000 in Fujifilm grand-format technology.

Big Image Australia installed the five-metre wide Fujifilm Uvistar Pro8 UV printer in August.

Owner Carlo Capogreco said the four-staff firm had recorded immediate growth thanks to the machine's speed, quality and accuracy.

"It's pretty much doubled our turnover already. In terms of productivity, it's improved the efficiency incredibly with speed and material costs. It's made a huge difference to our lives," he told ProPrint.

"The speed is enormous, the quality is excellent, the UV inks are fantastic – really, really tough and durable. It's also versatile. We've got a hybrid printer which means we can convert to flatbed printing fairly quickly and easily as well."

The Uvistar can run up to three 1.6-metre rolls side-by-side, at full production speed, thereby tripling productivity for 1600mm wide jobs. The flatbed capability potentially opens up new opportunities for rigid panels and displays.

[Feature: Large-format leader eyes new markets]

Capogreco declined to reveal the exact value of the investment, but said it was about $400,000.

The Uvistar Pro8 replaced a 3.2-metre DGI MegaJet that was installed in 2005. Big Image's other wide-format production machines include a Roland DG SolJet Pro III XJ-640 and Seiko Colorpainter H-104s, he said.

Capogreco said Big Image might install more kit in 2014 to run alongside the Uvistar Pro8.

"With this printer, we're also looking at broadening our capabilities, so there's a possibility we could go to fabrics as well and may go to a dedicated flatbed eventually, depending on the demand, which seems to be fairly strong," he told ProPrint.

Fujifilm graphics systems manager James Young said the Uvistar Pro8 was Big Image's first piece of Fujifilm equipment.

"[Capogreco] hadn’t heard of the Uvistar Pro8 and hardly knew that we were in wide- and grand-format UV at all," said Young.

"It was a great opportunity to show how far Fujifilm has come in digital inkjet technology and inks, although Big Image was using our inks on his 3.2-metre device with great satisfaction."

[Related: More SA news]

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