08.05.21
Looking to grow its large-format business among growing post-COVID market demand the AlphaGraphics franchise in Portsmouth, NH has invested in an EFI Pro 16h UV LED wide format printer.
Purchased from authorized EFI dealer Nazdar SourceOne, the hybrid roll-to-roll/flatbed inkjet printer bolsters the services that the marketing and printing shop offers to its local clients operating in a wide range of vertical markets, including food, medical manufacturing, real estate, government and education.
Co-owners Chris Carrier and Chris Oberg purchased the business in October 2019 and brought the AlphaGraphics franchise brand to the previously independent shop. Carrier and Oberg brought a vision with them to grow the business and had the idea to invest in a hybrid machine that could bring more efficiency and greater variety and capabilities than what the shop’s existing roll-to-roll printers offered.
“We have a philosophy of continuous improvement when it comes to sales and operations,” said Oberg. “We try and push our customers toward creative thinking, but people equate creativity with higher costs. The Pro 16h gives us the ability to push creative boundaries at a lower cost.”
Prior to installing the Pro 16h printer, printing rigid-substrate jobs was a multi-step process at AlphaGraphics Portsmouth, involving a roll-to-roll machine and the manual mounting of printed sheets to boards.
“Every rigid material job involved cutting, applying vinyl, rolling through twice, and trimming everything,” said Oberg. “That multistep process is no longer needed for a majority of our orders, simplifying around 90% of our orders.”
The Pro 16h printer’s UV LED technology is capable of printing directly on a wide range of substrates that cannot withstand high heat required for curing or drying with traditional UV or latex printers.
The shop has already started to benefit from higher throughput and more reliable production turnaround. Printing at resolutions up to 1,200 dots per inch, the EFI Pro16h prints at a production speed of up to 311 square feet per hour in four colors, and it includes a high-quality, highly opaque white ink that gives AlphaGraphics Portsmouth more options to produce vibrant, full-color work on projects printed on clear or colored substrates.
Between the printer’s technical capabilities and the shop’s new ability to print direct to substrate, AlphaGraphics Portsmouth has saved about four hours in labor every day and eliminated the need for reprinted jobs that resulted from human error.
“We’re seeing growth as our customers recover from COVID,” said Carrier. “We couldn’t quite justify hiring an entire new team member, but the time and labor that the Pro 16h has saved us essentially equates to half of a person.
Purchased from authorized EFI dealer Nazdar SourceOne, the hybrid roll-to-roll/flatbed inkjet printer bolsters the services that the marketing and printing shop offers to its local clients operating in a wide range of vertical markets, including food, medical manufacturing, real estate, government and education.
Co-owners Chris Carrier and Chris Oberg purchased the business in October 2019 and brought the AlphaGraphics franchise brand to the previously independent shop. Carrier and Oberg brought a vision with them to grow the business and had the idea to invest in a hybrid machine that could bring more efficiency and greater variety and capabilities than what the shop’s existing roll-to-roll printers offered.
“We have a philosophy of continuous improvement when it comes to sales and operations,” said Oberg. “We try and push our customers toward creative thinking, but people equate creativity with higher costs. The Pro 16h gives us the ability to push creative boundaries at a lower cost.”
Prior to installing the Pro 16h printer, printing rigid-substrate jobs was a multi-step process at AlphaGraphics Portsmouth, involving a roll-to-roll machine and the manual mounting of printed sheets to boards.
“Every rigid material job involved cutting, applying vinyl, rolling through twice, and trimming everything,” said Oberg. “That multistep process is no longer needed for a majority of our orders, simplifying around 90% of our orders.”
The Pro 16h printer’s UV LED technology is capable of printing directly on a wide range of substrates that cannot withstand high heat required for curing or drying with traditional UV or latex printers.
The shop has already started to benefit from higher throughput and more reliable production turnaround. Printing at resolutions up to 1,200 dots per inch, the EFI Pro16h prints at a production speed of up to 311 square feet per hour in four colors, and it includes a high-quality, highly opaque white ink that gives AlphaGraphics Portsmouth more options to produce vibrant, full-color work on projects printed on clear or colored substrates.
Between the printer’s technical capabilities and the shop’s new ability to print direct to substrate, AlphaGraphics Portsmouth has saved about four hours in labor every day and eliminated the need for reprinted jobs that resulted from human error.
“We’re seeing growth as our customers recover from COVID,” said Carrier. “We couldn’t quite justify hiring an entire new team member, but the time and labor that the Pro 16h has saved us essentially equates to half of a person.