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A follow-up with Fastsigns El Paso on its experience with UV-curable printing a year after the installation of the Legend 72HUV.
It’s been almost a year since Fastsigns El Paso, led by owner Virginia King, settled on the Legend 72HUV to fulfill the company’s need for a hybrid UV-curable printer. Since that time, Fastsigns has found a catalyst for expanding business within and beyond its current customer base.
This recruitment sign was produced for a number of Border Patrol stations in and around El Paso. The signs were direct-printed on 4x8 sections of Alumalite with the Legend 72HUV. The 4x8 sections were then paneled together to make one large 8x12 sign for each location. Note the deep, rich dark colors, which are virtually unheard of in UV-curable printing.
“The Legend is now paying for itself. Production costs are down, and a lot of the signs we used to do on the solvent printer we’re doing on the Legend. Sales are up this year, and I can pin a lot of that on the Legend. We’re selling to people we didn’t sell to before, such as those who used to go to screen printers. We can do full-color for the same price screen printers are quoting for two-color, so that represents a new customer base that buys things like political signs, real estate signs, and yard signs on Coroplast. I don’t care if it has two colors or 67 colors; we don’t have to make a screen for each color and we can print directly to the substrate,” says King. “Early on I was told that UV-curable printing would not necessarily cut down on labor, because you end up doing more signs and different types of signs, but what has really happened is that I’m paying less for labor while producing a higher volume of work.”
“We recently completed a project where we printed 100 4x4 Coroplast signs. We could not have done that competitively with another technology. All we had to do was print them directly on 4x8 sheets and cut them in half, whereas before we would have to print on vinyl and laminate the vinyl to the Coroplast,” adds King.
New Business, Same Rules
King likens her experience with installing and running the UV-curable printer with opening a new business. For King and her staff the printer represented a totally different way of approaching the market, one which would provide a new selling point that would need to be effectively communicated to the current customer base and prospects in and around El Paso.
“We didn’t have the customer base for it right away, so we had to build it just as you do when you open a new business. When you add this capability to the mix you also need to educate your current customers about the new capabilities, and so far we’ve been able to increase sales inside and outside of our traditional customer base,” says King.
This traveling display was printed for the Boy Scouts of America on 96 in. x 96 in. Foam Cor with the Legend 72HUV.
The Legend is primarily printing directly to Coroplast, foam boards, PVC, and Alumalite, plus a lot of banner material. “Since the printer is six feet wide we can put print a couple of three-foot banners side-by-side on it, and there’s no waste. Plus, it’s about twice as fast as our solvent printer,” says King.
Though the switch from flatbed mode to roll-to-roll is relatively quick and easy, King says they try to schedule the printer so that the switch is made as few times as possible. King estimates they make the switch once a day.
King says the only challenge with adopting UV-curable technology has been the learning curve, which is much steeper than it is with other inkjet technologies. Therefore, training and maintenance have been the key components for ensuring consistent, trouble-free printing.
“Training is an essential, and LexJet emphasized the importance of training with the Legend right away. When we got our aqueous and solvent printers, training was almost nil. But when we got this printer, both Digital Equipment Company and LexJet brought a philosophy with the sale of the printer to train and solve problems, and that support has been ongoing,” says King. “I know that if I get a new graphic designer today, I can call LexJet and schedule another training session. I’ll need to pay to get them to the training center, but LexJet won’t charge me an arm and a leg above our travel costs for training, and that is very refreshing in this market.”
The biggest part of maintenance at Fastsigns El Paso is as simple as keeping it clean. King says they keep all of the printers meticulously clean, which has extended the useful life of the shop’s solvent and aqueous printers while it keeps the Legend humming and will keep it humming for years to come.
“In almost six years we’ve only had to replace three heads on the solvent printer, and the replacements had to do with operator error as opposed to a mechanical or maintenance issue,” says King. “Plus, with the Legend, I know I bought an extremely durable machine that’s certainly better than anything in its price range and is even better than printers that are a lot more expensive. It’s like having a Hummer as opposed to a Kia, so I know it will perform and last for a long time.”