With demand for wide-format print on the rise – both on rigid board as well as flexible materials – it was time for Solopress to take a look at increasing our capabilities yet further.
In order to meet demand, our requirement was to acquire a versatile press with the capacity to print onto just about any material. We also wanted to be able to print these materials on a wider scale than we’d been able to manage before.
Doubling Up
We needed a high-quality hybrid machine, and the Agfa Anapurna H2500i LED hybrid wide-format press was so well suited to our requirements, we bought two of them! This acquisition was part of an investment plan that also included the purchase of two HP Indigo 10000 digital presses and a Kongsberg C Edge cutting table.
Our two new Agfa Anapurna H2500i presses were delivered and installed in May 2019, and have been running 24 hours a day, 6 days a week ever since. They run at twice the speed and half the cost of our previous wide-format machines, partly due to Agfa’s unique Thin Ink Layer Technology, which is great news both for us and for our customers.
Efficiency, Quality and Reliability
Speaking about the investment, managing director Simon Cooper said: “We decided to bring in the Agfa Anapurnas as they provide the efficiency, quality and reliability we need for our customers.
“Our wide-format work is a fast-growing area of the business. This equipment gives us the overall productivity we need to meet that demand. It also provides us with the flexibility in order to offer many new products in the coming months.
“We decided to invest in two machines rather than one to ensure that there is no disruption in service should one develop an issue. Not letting our customers down is very important to us, and so having two Anapurnas in place is extremely useful.”
What does this mean for our customers?
The efficiencies that the new presses bring mean that we can be more competitive across a number of areas, including:
- Faster turnarounds. The machines are twice as quick as the previous generation of press we were operating. This means we’ll be able to offer even faster turnaround times for our customers.
- New products. Having this machinery will allow us to expand our wide-format product offering. We’ll be assessing our current range and look to introduce new products over the coming months.
- Lower prices. Lower ink costs and higher productivity will enable us to reduce our prices providing even greater value for money.
The technical bit…
The main features that the Agfa Anapurna H2500i’s will bring to Solopress include:
- UV LED lamps that save time, costs and the environment.
- Print speeds of up to 129m2/h.
- Up to 720 x 1440 dpi and up to 4pt text quality.
- Reinforced belt and shuttle beam for accurate dot positioning and excellent image quality.
New presses, new capabilities & new products
We’re delighted with our pair of Agfa Anapurnas, and Agfa seemed happy to be dealing with Solopress too, as this Customer Case on their website shows.
If you want to see how our new presses are performing, take a look at our range of signage boards and beer mats – and watch this space for new product launches resulting from our enhanced wide-format print capabilities!
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