Signarama Tuggerah was fed up with outsourcing jobs so it invested in an EFI H1625 LED flatbed printer to increase profits and keep jobs in-house. The store in NSW’s central coast, which opened nine-years-ago with two employees and now employs nine people, specialises in indoor, outdoor and vehicle signs. It also has the capacity to install three vehicle wraps at once on its factory floor. Speaking with Australian Printer, Tim Anderson, managing director of Signarama Tuggerah, says the business could not rely on outsourcing jobs because that led to dissatisfied customers.
Tim Anderson Signarama Tuggerah managing director
Anderson says, “We were fed up with outsourcing to third parties who did not meet deadlines. It made us look bad to our customers because we would say the job would be ready at a certain time and then had to wait for someone else to meet that deadline, which they would miss. “We are in the top ten Signarama stores list across Australia, and tussle with another store in Wollongong for the number one spot in regional Australia, so our reputation is important to us.” He says the new flatbed will ensure he can deliver jobs on time as it is fast and similar to ‘having an extra person join the team’. Anderson says, “I don’t expect a large growth from investing in this machine. We really got it to ensure we could do most our jobs in-house and do it fast. The flatbed prints our PBC and exhibition signage as well as other large signs. “But we still have the HP Latex 2550 roll-to-roll that produces our window signs, vehicle wraps and other signs. We are also targeting the independent real estate markets to do their signage.” He says although the H1625 is fast and can print on anything; it did have some issues at the beginning. “We got the flatbed in March and in the early days there were some issues caused by a power outage. Even EFI didn’t know that power outages would cause problems with the printer,” Anderson says. “But they came and addressed the issue and in fact I believe they fixed the printers all over the world to ensure that power outages don’t cause issues with them anymore.” He says while it is not common for a Signarama to have a flatbed it was something that was going to increase his store’s efficiency and allow him to save. Anderson says, “This machine more than anything will allow us to save on costs of paying the third party, save in labour costs, save time in buying self adhesive products and ensure we can deliver to our customers across Australia and New Zealand. “The machine has been received well with our existing customers who are happy that we will do the job for them here and do it right.”
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