Signarama Cairns has moved to a new site triple the size of its previous building and invested in a new HP Latex printer in a bid to expand the business.

Owner Garry Allen says while the move is not completely due to growth the franchise print shop wanted to move into a purpose-built site, which will allow it to provide more services to clients.

He says the new building in Bungalow is 390sqm compared to the old 130sqm one, and is on a main road five minutes’ drive from the town centre, which will give it more exposure.

Allen says the expansion could allow the four-staff company to hire another 4-8 people.

“We made the decision to invest in our business, which led us to buying the new HP Latex 360 – largely due to our desire to improve production times, and for its eco-solvent technology,” he says.

“There is a lot of junk being sent out and we want to lift the quality of the products in the market, so we have aligned our business with 3M, and the new HP Latex 360 uses the only ink currently suited for the 3M cast media.

“At present we look to be the local market leader in vehicle wraps, LED screen suppliers, promotional products, in-house manufacturing, and supplier of digital print media signage.”

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Allen says the franchise, which won the gold medal at the Sign Association Awards in 2012, could easily have bought a flatbed printer, but ‘we needed to know if that was the right move for our region’.

“So we conducted a lot of research and then made the plans to expand. We kept the Roland eco-solvent printer but as time goes on we see another HP Latex series printer being brought, so the company will eventually run two HP machines,” he says.

According to HP, the Latex 360 produces completely dry products allowing same-day delivery.

Allen says: “Our in-house training and development along with the back-up of other Signarama Franchises enables us to bring to the market the best possible quality for our clients.”

He says a pad printer and other selected machinery are used to continue to expand the business and keep it at the ‘top of the game’.

Allen says Signarama Finance, a new product exclusively for Signarama clients, will give the company 100 per cent tax deductible finance for their signage.

The new building is located at 126 Aumuller Street in Bungalow, Queensland.

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