LFP - Large-Format-Printing
SDPS enjoys benefits of upgrade to Onset X2 HS during pandemic-hit year
Friday 26. February 2021 - Based in Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon, Normandy, SDPS is a leading supplier of high quality wide format print to the French POP and POS market. The company installed its first Onset X2 in 2016 and followed that with a second installation the following year.
Major French POS print service provider switched one of its two Onset X2 printers for a new six colour Onset X2 HS in order to take advantage of the extra speed and higher levels of automation available
Three years on, in the summer of 2020, they decided to take the opportunity to upgrade to the Onset X2 HS, which was launched by Fujifilm and Inca Digital in 2019.
“We were very happy with the two X2 machines,” says Richard Charrier, Technical Director at SDPS. “They are highly productive – the best on the market – but we saw an opportunity to boost our production speeds even further if we invested in an HS model.”
The Onset X2 HS was installed in August, with the accompanying robotic arm system having to follow later due to COVID restrictions. Neither Charrier, nor company CEO Regis Broussin have been disappointed. “Job set-up times are much faster now,” says Broussin. “Were saving five to ten minutes in set-up time with every job, and with anywhere from two to ten jobs in a typical shift, that time saving quickly adds up.”
Nor is it just with the job set-up that time savings are being made. “The printing speed is faster as well,” Broussin adds. “The heads adjust more quickly and the loading and unloading is much smoother. All together were saving one-and-a-half to two hours of production time every shift. What that has meant is that weve moved from a pattern of three eight hour shifts per day to three seven hour shifts per day. Weve also now been able to start closing the factory on Saturday mornings and giving everyone a welcome break. And weve been able to do all of that while maintaining the same levels of production as before.”
Charrier notes that the quality the Onset range is known for is still very much there. “The extra speed hasnt affected the quality at all,” he comments. “Its still every bit as good and our customers are delighted with it.”
Like all print businesses in Europe, SDPS faced significant challenges in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. “A lot of our usual work dropped off during the first lockdown in the spring,” says Broussin. “It picked up rapidly in July and August – we were much busier then than we normally would be – but overall its certainly been a very tough year.
“Looking ahead, the print production market is very competitive and I expect to see a bit of a price war next year among us and our competitors. Having an exceptionally reliable, high quality and high productivity machine like the Onset is certainly an advantage for us in that scenario.”
Jerome Delplanque, Commercial Director, Wide Format, Fujifilm Graphic Systems France says: “SDPS has been a valued customer of Fujifilms for a number of years now. Having been with them for so many new steps on their journey, were delighted to have been able to give their production yet another boost with our latest high speed Onset model. In what has been a very tough year for all of us, SDPS has performed admirably well and were proud to be working with them.”