Consumables
Awesome starstruck by metallic inkjet technology from PaperCo
Friday 11. June 2010 - Awesome Merchandise, a supplier of promotional products and printing services, has extended its range of products following the supply of a Roland XC-540MT metallic inkjet machine by PaperCo.
PaperCo today supplies a range of digital equipment and printing consumables in addition to paper and alternative substrates. It organised the demonstration, provided technical advice on kit and stocks and supported the company through installation and training at the Roland Academy.
Leeds based Awesome Merchandise was looking for equipment that would allow it broaden its already extensive range of products – badges to banners and key rings to keepsakes – which it supplies to bands, businesses, charities, night clubs, sports teams, educational bodies, artists and even other printers.
The Roland XC-540MT is unusual in being able to apply metallic silver and white in addition to the standard CMYK process colours. The 54 inch wide printer uses Sliver Eco Sol Max ink and in CMYK can output at speeds of up to 41 sq m an hour and in quality up to 1440 x 1440dpi.
“We are constantly looking to expand our product choice and this machine allowed us to offer a wider range of stickers as well as lower run posters, whilst launching new products such as canvas printing and digitally printed T-shirt transfers,” says Luke Hodson, managing director.
“The machine also allowed us to greatly improve the quality of our banners and will open up further revenue streams in future such as point of sale and vehicle wrapping. The ability to print white and metallic as well as the print and cut facility in one unit really made the machine stand out.”
Five year old Awesome Merchandise has taken delivery of the machine and its early impressions are that it is very fast, reliable and produces brilliant quality results. It particularly likes the machines flexibility and envisages being able to run five different types of job in a single day with relatively quick switch over between each.
“The machine represented a large investment for a company making its first move into wide format but, because of its flexibility, we are confident it was the right machine for us and in time will offer a good return on investment,” says Mr Hodson. “We had a lot of support from PaperCo both before and after the installation; they helped us every step of the way.”