With investment levels in the M-Press starting at €1.4m, the new production unit represents the biggest investment in the 25 year history of Melbourne based Styleprint, which is owned by the Woodhouse family.
It is the first in Australia, and in fact the first outside western Europe, and will change the bar for the Australian display graphics business. Capable of outputtting up to 770sqm an hour, with no make ready, films or screens, and able to print on substrates up to 10mm thick, the M-Press accepts digital files, slashing makeready time, enabling variable data printing, and creating new business opportunities for Styleprint.
Speaking at the commissioning of the M-Press last night, company director Andrew Woodhouse thanked Agfa and Thieme for “developing the production unit we wanted” and revealed Styleprint had been looking to embrace digital inkjet for several years. Woodhouse says the company’s customers will benefit from the speed, quality, and sustainability of the M-Press.
Tom Cloots, business unit manager at Agfa, and the man responsible for driving the development of M-Press, paid tribute to Styleprint as a company “of courage, vision and leadership”, thanks to its recognition of the way M-Press will benefit the Australian market and its willingness to invest in it.
The M-Press Tiger prints an astounding two billion inkjet droplets every second, delivering a resolution up to 720 x 720dpi on stock sizes up to 1600 x 2600mm and weights from 120gsm up to three kilos a square metre.
Company founder, Terry Woodhouse revealed how he started the business with a vacuum table using a family vacuum cleaner as the engine with 3000 holes in the bench drilled by himself. He regaled the assembled audience with tales of the early days the impact his two sons had when joining the business.
See the full story in Australian Printer, February issue. Click here to subscribe.
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