LFP - Large-Format-Printing
Artex produces custom-made roller blinds with Roland printers
Monday 15. November 2010 - Artex knows innovation. This producer of semi-finished roller, fold, plissé and slat blinds was established about 60 years ago and is still looking for new technologies, fabrics and innovation possibilities. In 2005, the company decided to start a partnership with Roland DG for the digital production of roller blinds. The introduction was very successful and in the coming period, the company will produce about 50.000 roller blinds. This success story is certainly not finished.
Artex was founded in 1947 in Aarle-Rixtel, near Helmond in the Netherlands. Since 1990, the company is part of a multinational and nowadays, Artex has more than 200 employees. Originally, the company’s main focus was weaving, but now Artex controls the complete production process -from weaving, washing, painting and coating to printing and pleating.
Some years ago, Artex’ R&D group started looking for opportunities to print blinds without using pigment rotation and transfer techniques. Using digital printers to produce custom-made roller blinds appeared to be an interesting challenge. Technologic specialist Eric Hendrikx and his colleagues tested different brand of digital printers, but the Roland SJ-1045 proved to be the best solution. Eric Hendrikx explains the advantages of digital printing: “The new generation of digital printers is faster, better and cheaper. They also allow us to deliver products that meet our customer’s wishes. Thanks to the digital printers, we can work very detailed and we can offer various colour combinations. At the time, Roland DG helped us very good with the realisation of this project. We currently use six Roland printers that produced about 115.000 m² during the past year.”
The software Artex uses is unique and human errors are limited thanks to the automatic handling of orders. The shop assistant enters his customer’s wishes into the computer and the software package guarantees that what’s printed is exactly what the customer ordered. Because you only produce what a client ordered, you’re not faced with a stock, as opposed to the traditional production of roller blinds.
Artex uses a deviate colour/ink combination and prints 2 pass bi directional at a speed of 18 to 19 m²/h per printer. A great advantage of digital printing is that the capacity can easily be expanded. At the moment, Artex is investigating opportunities of extending the digital production process optimally. Roland DG stays the ideal partner for these projects. Eric Hendrikx: “Last year, Artex won the price for the best supplier of curtains. Quality and punctuality of delivery were important criteria. This requires good arrangements, also with our suppliers, and constant quality of the machine is also important. Roland DG offers us the service we need. Maintenance is executed at prescribed times and is done very thoroughly. Our employees also follow the maintenance guidelines and thanks to this good cooperation, we are sure that our printers always work optimally. So for us, Roland DG is the ideal partner to continue the digital printing projects.”