AUSTRALIAN VISUAL SOLUTIONS
AVS launched its dedicated hardware division Australian Visual Hardware, which covers its hardware sales and servicing while its consumable range remains AVS branded. National hardware business manager Simon Trytell says the newly-launched American-made Collex cutter gives printers a good entry point into wide format. The cutter has a choice of 10 tools, 3 of which can be used at once. It came out a week before the show and costs about $132,000 plus GST.
CANON
Canon had a fictitious coffee company to show how its kit can print everything a client needs. There was a range of Oce kit on display including the ProCut 3200L, Arizona 480GT flatbed and ColorWave 700 high-speed printer, as well as the Seiko ColorPainter M64. Senior marketing manager Dale Hawkins says the show was about communication with its customers. “We can help them extend their product range and tap into new markets with new and existing clients,” he says. “To grow printers need to areas where print has not been the solution before and they might not have seen themselves in, wide format is a growth market with great margins.”
CELMAC
At this show Celmac was all about its new consumables with its range of printers on the stand mainly there to show how they can be used. Managing director Wayne McIntyre says Celmac has just launched Drytac self-adhesives into Australia including easy application wallpaper that sticks hard but peels straight off and is being used at the Rugby World Cup. “We sell lots of printers so this event is about showing what you can do with them,” he says.
DES
Top flagship item on the digital reseller’s stand was the newly launched Seiko ColorPainter H3-104s roll-to-roll wide format printer. Seiko regional sales manager Terry Kodama, on hand to answer customer questions, says the eight-colour machine can print at 56.6sqm an hour at quality equal to the ColorPainter M-64. An upgrade from the H2 which was only good enough for banner printing, Kodama says the H3 can handle all kinds of wide format jobs as the quality is better.
GRAPHIC ART MART
The wide format reseller only launched into Melbourne and is trying to build its presence there. “A show is one of the only places customers can see a lot of our portfolio in one place and for the team to see who their customers are,” product marketing manager Jessica Tailby says. On the stand were machines from Roland DG and Mimaki and consumables from Sihl, Avery Dennison and Arlon. It also hosted hands on car wrapping sessions with Avery Dennison and had racing simulators for punters looking for a break.
IMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY
Impression used Visual Impact to launch the Gotx 2190 roll-to-roll fabric printer into Australia. The machine prints in pigment or dye sublimation on a range of prepared for print fabrics also on the stand and costs only $65,000. “This is a big opportunity for soft signage printers and a far cheaper cost than our competitors,” business development manager Jerry Erich says. “This unit is all in one with no need for multiple processes.” Also on show was the Compress IUV600 UV printer, which Erich says is the fastest in the A2 size.
MIMAKI
Mimaki launched the 1.8m wide roll-to-roll TS300P-1800 dye sublimation printer, designed to print onto transfer paper as thin as 50gsm to reduce run costs and increase flexibility of applications. It can print up to 26-38sqm an hour on standard setting with four colour inks and 14-20sqm with six colours, and costs about $33,000. National marketing manager Brad Creighton says the machine will appeal to the growing sports apparel market but also to printers of soft signage.
MUTOH
While only selling through its dealers, Mutoh was at the show to expand its Melbourne customer base and answer questions. The new machine on show was the Value Jet 628X 24-inch eight-colour eco-solvent printer with a high quality production speed of 9sqm an hour. Product manager Mutoh says the cost-effective printer includes white and silver ink at the same time and has heaters to get a sharper print result while also aiding fast drying.
NEOPOST
Neopost partnered with HP for the show and had a slate of wide format printers on show, and all the stand signage printed on HP printers, with the manufacturer’s staff on hand to answer questions. With no new launches, the main focus was on bundled selling of its print and cut solutions, pairing a HP Latex with Graphtec cutting systems. HP application specialist Jeremy Brew says jobs come off the printer dry ready to be put straight in the cutter. “These days it is just not very efficient to not have a print and cut setup in your print room,” he says.
ROLAND DG
The major wide format manufacturer launched its LEH-640FT six-colour flatbed printer targeted at specialist printing with a wide range of substrate options. Managing director John Wall says it can print on almost anything thinner than 150mm and is perfect for printers who want versatility. “It is aimed at high-quality printing on short runs with a broad spectrum of media, which the print can autodetect,” he says. “Anyone printing interior graphics or promotional displays should get one and we expect to sell a few off the stand.”
TROTEC LASER
The laser-cutting manufacturer had two new models on sale which national sales manager Reece Moore says address the paper scorching issue that has slowed the uptake of the technology with new ‘cold cutting’ technology. The Speedy 360 is designed for highly customised, short run work cutting intricate patterns, while the SpeedMaker GS is suited to high volume, fast speed jobs and has a cutting area of 500x500mm. Because the operation is software not hardware driven it is able to cut much more complicated patterns at a lower cost and turnaround than a diecutter.
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