Active Display Group – one of Australia's most awarded retail industry, POS, display and signage manufacturers – has ordered he region’s first two Inca Onset X series UV flatbed printers in a major capacity upgrade.
The Mulgrave, Vic, company is about to install an Onset X3 and an Onset X1 which will come with ABB Robotic Systems Automation, and will need just one opertao0r to run both printers at once.
Active is part of the region’s largest brand management, advertising, PR and media group WPP AUNZ. WPP AUNZ is majority owned by WPP plc which has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. WPP plc is headed by notable advocate of print media, Sir Martin Sorrell.
Stuart Gittus, general manager of operations at Active says, “As part of WPP AUNZ, Active is able to provide clients with an end-to-end path to purchase solution, seamlessly delivering one streamlined integration of experts. Because we offer the region’s most comprehensive suite of services from design, production and distribution through to merchandising and warehousing; we needed to look at our present and future needs including, but not limited to, growing volumes and shorter print runs.”
He continues: “Extensive due diligence was performed and, in the Inca Onset X series from Fujifilm, we found print speed at high quality will ultimately enable us to become even more competitive in a challenging market, whilst increasing our capacity for speed-to-market. Also, with the degree of automation, both machines can be run by a single operator.”
This will be one of Fujifilm’s largest installations of its type in the Asia-Pacific region. The company says the combined systems, to be installed at Active’s Mulgrave site, will be outstanding examples of digital wideformat productivity and, importantly, they are versatile and scalable systems that can grow with business needs, being highly automated with robotics.
Active’s Onset X3 is capable of printing commercial-quality up to 900sqm per hr and features industry- leading printhead technology from Fujifilm Dimatix., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujifilm Corporation.
Both of Active’s Onset devices use the latest Dimatix R-class printheads which fire a standard 14pl ink droplet at billions of times per second. They will also be running the new Inca tear-drop feature which allows droplet tuning from 11pl – 17pl, giving Active the capacity to further improve image quality and eliminate the need for additional light ink channels, which dramatically reduces the ink usage per square metre.
Active’s second machine is an Onset X1 designed to be future-proof, like all Onset X series, thanks to Inca's scalable architecture. This means that an Inca Onset-X purchased today is designed to grow with businesses into the future with in-field upgrades such as additional printheads and higher speeds.
Both of Active’s X series devices will be running robotic automation, allowing the company to maximise productivity by stacking higher stacks of printed sheets – something that was not previously possible with scissor-lift systems. This is of major benefit in terms of machine uptime, as other technologies increase the downtime due to pauses for stack changes. Added to this is the flexibility of being able to place proof-sheets for the operator to check during production, without having to interfere with the palletised job.
Fujifilm Graphic System’s National Sales Manager, Ashley Playford says: “Our thanks go out to Stuart and the whole team at Active for entrusting Fujifilm and Inca with their next production growth phase. We are truly excited for Active and can't wait for their customers to experience the quality and speed to market that these two Onset X series systems will offer them."
Active has two other Fujifilm-supplied grand format printers at Mulgrave; a Uvistar 2 and a Uvistar Pro8 – both 5 metre wide roll-to-roll machines. Gittus says: “When the new Incas arrive, they will be printing a wide range of media including synthetic paper, art paper, screen board, fluted plastic and fluted cardboard for both Australian and global leading retailers and brands. He adds: “Fujifilm has been very proactive and lateral working with us to provide a solution to suit all our needs. Also, the technical information has been invaluable to the decision. It has been a pleasure working with Fujifilm and Inca.”
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