Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in signage and speak with experts about how new products and options can help their businesses grow.

Drytac products will be present at Mimaki’s booth, where visitors can see Drytac’s ViziPrint Clear, ViziPrint Deco +, Polar Chrome and both Retac Canvas and Retac Linen being run on Mimaki machinery.

Drytac’s Polar Dynamic Sand will be featured on the Vanguard Digital Printing Systems and Durst Group stand. Elsewhere, Fujifilm will be using Drytac’s Viziprint Impress Clear as part of its live product demonstrations on its booth, while Epson America will showcase the qualities of Polar Grip Air.

Attendees can also visit the Mutoh America stand to view live demonstrations of Drytac’s ReTac Smooth throughout the event. ReTac Smooth will also feature on the swissQprint America stand alongside ReTac Textures Woodgrain.

In addition, Drytac partner HP will demonstrate both Viziprint Impress Clear and SpotOn Clear on its printing machinery.

Glen Fitzgerald, director of sales for the Americas at Drytac commented, ‘The ISA Sign Expo is a highly important event on our US calendar. Running our products on machines from several manufacturers will showcase the flexibility and adaptability of Drytac solutions, as well as the overall quality of these products.’

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Founded in 1848, Dornans offers services including small format digital printing, litho printing, direct mail, and CNC routing, while its digital wide-format department services the retail, education, and exhibitions market sectors.

In the company’s previous set-up, an InkTec Jetrix flatbed was used for wide-format printing. With the evolution of the business, the senior team chose to upgrade to the Mimaki JFX200-2513 EX. This decision was driven by the printer’s perceived qualities; fast and simultaneous white ink printing, ‘excellent’ print quality, ‘impressive’ speeds, and cost-effectiveness.

Steven Shalmani, Dornans’ client services director described the installation as a ‘robust leap forward’ with the printer being capable of handling white ink for window vinyls for its national retail customers. Mr Shalmani also described the machine’s ‘relatively compact footprint’ as a ‘big bonus,’ allowing the company to have a ‘physical closeness between printing and finishing’ as the JFX200-2513 EX sits next to its new digital cutting table.

The machine features a new print head configuration that is said to double output speeds when printing with white in all print modes. Other benefits include its ability to print onto a range of materials including acrylics, glass, metal, polyester, wood, stone.

The Mimaki uses variable dot technology that enables it to print with three different dot sizes, small, medium, and large. These tri-sized drops mean high resolution graphics can be produced smoothly, without a grainy appearance, at high speeds and in low resolution mode.

Mr Shalmani concluded, ‘With this strategic investment in Mimaki technology, we’re not just ready for the future but are actively shaping it, ensuring unparalleled service and quality for our customers.’

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Speaking about the co-location of SDUK with Printwear & Promotion Live (see preview on p40), event director Tony Gardner said, ‘Sign & Digital UK 2024 is the first SDUK under our ownership, and we are really looking forward to seeing how the co-located event works. All shows must continue to develop their offering and we believe a co-located event is key to help grow the show, and to attract a new audience into the world of sign-making and large-format digital printing. Visitors will have the chance to explore the latest technology and innovations first-hand, with many of these advancements being showcased in the UK for the first time.’

The exhibition will be complemented by the International Sign Association (ISA-UK) Explains Lounge. Now in its third year, the Lounge will host a series of presentations and panel discussions designed to inform and educate visitors to the show on the latest developments, trends and innovations and how they will impact the large format printing, sign-making and visual communications industry.

Topics include managing your sign business, business advice sessions, daily panel and feature sessions. The Women in Sign and Graphics session focuses on their contributions to the industry, while The Printing Charity will share ways to support mental well-being within the sector.

On the show floor, Hybrid Services, the exclusive UK and Ireland distributor for Mimaki Europe, is introducing three new printers at the event. These are the Mimaki TxF300-75 direct-to-film printer launched in August 2023, the UJV100-160Plus LED UV printer announced in September 2023, which will have its first UK exhibition showing, plus the first showing of the Mimaki UCJV330-160 LED UV integrated printer/cutter. The latter is a 1.6m production machine that Hybrid says offers ‘highly creative capabilities coupled with ultra-low running costs’.

RGB and Oki Europe are teaming up to support motor vehicle number plate printing with a complete ‘business in a box’ solution. They will be featuring the A3+ Oki Pro9542 printer, which includes white toner, and the Oki C650, described as ‘the world’s smallest high performance colour printer’  but still suitable for commercial print.

UK Feather Flags will showcase various products, including a new line of Eco fabric exhibition display solutions that it says demonstrate its commitment to sustainable signage. The company aims to build brand awareness, forge new business relationships, and gain insights into emerging market trends.

Sign Trade Supplies plans to display its range of sustainable aluminium profiles, sign fixings, and components, emphasising value to customers. The stand will also feature an interactive element, adding a ‘fun and engaging dimension for attendees’.

Assured Signage aims to use the show to highlight the potential of digital signage as a new revenue stream for traditional sign-makers and printers. It will present its media player, Sureview Genesis, which is claimed to offer offering exceptional performance and a low cost of ownership. The stand will also feature displays from Papercast, showcasing e-ink displays ideal for outdoor applications.

Roland DG  is taking space at both SDUK and Printwear & Promotion. At the former, it will showcase its new VersaObject MO-240, which replaces the company’s popular LEF2 Series and is designed to enhance direct-to-object printing with new levels of productivity. For those interested in signage, interior design and vehicle wraps, the company will also be showcasing its TrueVIS AP-640 resin printer, plus the popular TrueVis LG-640 UV print and cut device, and the 2.4 x 1.2m VersaObject EU-1000MF flatbed that can handle objects up to 95mm thick. These will be backed by demonstrations of the DG Connect software app.

Brownings, in partnership with Magnwall, plans to showcase novel wireless electrification systems at SDUK 2024. This allows users to mount electrical accessories onto the face of tension fabric systems, eliminating the need for complex wiring. The stand will also feature Brownings’ range, including TexSign tension fabric systems, Flex face products and bespoke snap frames.

BestSub will showcase its latest engraving machine, craft heat presses, Otter DtF system, and a comprehensive selection of craft supplies, materials, and tools.

InkTec had been planning to show a brand new printer, the Jetrix LXa5 flatbed, but the conflict around the Suez Canal has delayed it, so the firm will focus on sustainability, showing how Jetrix printers can be upgraded to move with the times and continue to deliver on their initial investment. The Jetrix LXi8 UV flatbed will be present, sporting a new user interface that improves the nesting and mapping capabilities of the printer to minimise media wastage. There will also be the first showing of the Jetrix XGR320 3.2m UV LED roll printer. Both machines will be printing with GreenGuard Gold accredited inks.

QPS will feature four LED UV printers from ColorJet on its stand – the 49sqm/hr Verve 2513M flatbed, the Verve Mini 1050 x 1650mm compact flatbed, the 2m width Vulcan Hybrid X and the 3.2m Vulcan 3201M which offers at top speed of 76sqm/hr. Collectively these cover a full gamut of wide-format applications from small signage and promotional items to high volume roll substrates, plus rigid materials including ACP, foam, board, flute board, glass, ceramic tiles and wood. QPS will also feature the Nazdar range of inks.

Drytac won’t have a stand of its own, but its products will feature on Epson, Hybrid Services and Roland’s stands, as well as that of exclusive distribution partner Premier Paper Group. While Premier will display a selection of Drytac materials and can advise about the full range, Epson will feature SpotOn Floor 200 and ReTac Textures Sand wallcovering films, while Hybrid will be printing Polar Chrome reflective PET, Polar Choice White film and Visiprint films. Roland’s stand will show ReTac ChalkMate, which yields a blackboard-type finish.

Another first will be the debut of the SC-V1000 A4 flatbed printer from Epson. This is an entry-level flatbed printer aimed at small businesses in the promotional goods industry. Described as highly compact and affordable, V1000 can print directly on a wide range of substrates with a thickness of up to 70mm, including acrylics, polycarbonates, PVC, aluminium, metal, polyester, foamboard, styrene, wood and stone, making it suitable for creating promotional and personalised items.

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Mr Kaziewicz joins the company with over 30 years’ experience in the wide-format printing industry, having held senior positions at reseller and distributor level, as well as being one of the founders of former Mimaki authorised reseller partner GPT in 2008.

Hybrid’s technical manager Chris Adams commented, ‘Rob’s appointment is a key strategic move for Hybrid, and his decades of customer-facing, technical Mimaki experience will be a major asset to our business.’

Speaking on the factors that attracted him to the role Mr Kaziewicz stated, ‘Mimaki’s heritage, breadth of product portfolio and innovative approach to bringing new products to market are all important to me and were key considerations in making this move.

‘Having worked with Hybrid for a large part of my career, it really feels good to join back up with a team of friends and colleagues in my new role.’

Mr Adams concluded, ‘Rob’s professional approach and extensive knowledge of Mimaki products and our wider industry are already having a significant impact.’

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Since 2014 Standbuilder has grown from supplying on-site technicians to the exhibitions market to becoming entirely self-sufficient through strategic investments and working closely with CMYUK in recent years. The company is now entirely self-sufficient for large format graphic production and finishing. Its plant list also includes a Mimaki print/cutter, Kongsberg C60 digital cutting table, Trotec Speedy 400 cutter/engraver and an AE sewing machine; it is also a regular use of the UFabrik line of materials in its exhibition work.

The new EFI hybrid printer replaces a Vutek QS3 Pro 3.2m printer at Standbuilder and this move to EFI’s latest technology aims to enhance productivity and reduce operational costs. The printer supports continuous board printing, accommodating large boards or multiple smaller panels with simple changeover from rigid to flexible printing, complemented by dual roll capability for flexible media.

This has helped Standbuilder to bring printing and finishing automation in-house, leading to a significant transformation. The company recently completed one of its largest projects to date, building 150 exhibition stands in just two weeks, covering over 4000 sqm of print.

Director Bruno Roquette said, ‘The integration of world-class digital printing production equipment enables Standbuilder to deliver high-quality, large print volumes efficiently, meeting strict deadlines with industrial-level speed. This improved workflow has positioned the company to attract larger contracts, contributing to overall business growth as the company now expands into Europe with its newly opened Barcelona operation.’

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This includes: Kavalan Butterfly Weldable Blockout, which is a double-sided printable PVC-free banner material that is suitable for indoor and outdoor applications; and Kavalan Gecko 320GB Greyback for display systems and paste up wall graphics.

Both these products, available in 3.2m and 5m wide rolls, are compatible with Latex and UV ink chemistries and have B1 and EN13501-1 fire ratings. They are also Reach compliant and lifecycle assessment approved.

Sustainability is noted as being a big driver for Impression, as it is for almost all printers, and adding Kavalan materials to its product mix ensures the company is as ‘eco-friendly’ as possible.

Impression director Carl Webster said, ‘These products produce fantastically good results. Our clients are driving the sustainability agenda and we’re really listening to it. We’re changing the way we work and the materials we are using in order to be as eco-friendly as possible.

‘We are planning our own eco materials event aimed at retail sector clients later in the year, which we’re very much looking forward to.’

These materials complement a recent investment in a 3.2m Mimaki UJV55-320 UV LED roll printer at Impression, also delivered through CMYUK. As reported here by sister publication Digital Textile Printer, this is Impression’s first 3.2m wide printer and is opening the company up to more of the textile market, particularly super-wide applications.

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An online services company, bigvaluebanners.co.uk was founded by Dave Quinn in 2008. Initially, the printing was outsourced and Mr Quinn managed sales. However, the need for more control and a faster turnaround lead him to bring nearly all printing in-house.

Over the past 15 years, a strategy of steady in-house investment has supported the business’ expansion into new service offerings, which now include banners in any size and material, wallcoverings, floor graphics, pavement signage, vehicle graphics, magnetic signs, contour cut self-adhesive, feather flags and flag poles.

‘The business has literally snowballed. We started out with Roland printers then invested in 3.2m UV LED Mimaki equipment also purchased from CMYUK, and now we’ve swapped out our Durst for the Vutek. We’re now also looking at adding dye sublimation technology to our plant list, which completes the last piece of our in-house production puzzle,’ commented Amy Quinn, who runs the administrative side of the business.

‘With our old flatbed, we were dealing with an engineer that had to come from France which wasn’t ideal. We really wanted local support, and we’d had a really good experience with CMYUK after buying our second Mimaki UJV55-320 from the company about two years ago,’ continued Ms Quinn. ‘The Vutek expands our in-house service offerings and enhances our throughput speeds and reliability. We can’t predict from one month to the next what type of work we’ll be producing as every day is different, but we are sure that the EFI Vutek Pro 30h will underpin the next stage of our business evolution, taking us towards onward future growth.’

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The Newcastle-based print supplied reseller handles products for screen and litho printing as well as wide-format digital, where Mimaki, Roland and Epson products are also in their range. Well-established in the north of England, YPS says it has built long-standing relationships with independent printers since its formation in 2009. A team of 14 staff supports customers with a proactive service of supply, extended warranty packages, and service work via a team of in-house engineers.

Georgia Brown, MD of YPS said, ‘We are really excited about this new partnership with Agfa. This move to add the Agfa Anapurna brand to our portfolio is a natural expansion to our product range, as it provides a choice of wide-format options and fills a price gap in our current offering. We will be supplying the Agfa Anapurna print engine range plus the inks and the Asanti workflow.’

‘I have known the team at YPS for many years and we are delighted to now have them on board as a reseller of our popular Anapurna range,’ said Paul Fitch, head of inkjet at Agfa UK & Ireland. ‘It’s a great fit for our business, they have a loyal customer base who appreciate the independent technical advice that YPS give on the best print solution for their business. Many of their customers have been looking at the growth in the wider format market and the Anapurna range will provide a great solution to many of their enquiries. I am looking forward to working them.

Agfa’s Anapurna UV LED series is aimed at sign shops, digital printers, photo labs and mid-sized graphic screen printers that want to combine board and roll-to-roll print jobs and is offered in 1650 and 3200mm widths for outdoor and indoor rigid and flexible wide-format jobs. A white ink option creates enables printing on transparent material for backlit applications or for printing white as a spot colour. An optional automatic board feeder is also available.

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The business, which is the digital wide-format sibling of offset print business Creative Colour-n-Copy, has been using a Mimaki JV33 eco-solvent machine and a CJV33 solvent printer/cutter, but was having to run double-day shifts to keep up with volume demands. Director Anne Grice preferred to stick with the brand she knew and trusted but found there was more to the upgrade than she had expected:

‘It prints in a fraction of the time but there’s no difference in quality, it’s exactly the same but just so much quicker because it’s got the double head. Also, if you’ve got a problem with one, you can just go back to printing with a single head, which is a massive sales feature,’ she commented, adding, ‘We’ve just completed a job that involved printing 12 rolls of vinyl that we then cut into labels for a customer. If we had been doing that on our old printers, this job would have taken several days and nights, not to mention the electricity consumed.

‘The new printer has impacted us immediately saving so much time and money. If we have signage jobs that we can’t print direct to board due to size limitations of a maximum of 8 x 4ft, we can now output to vinyl and mount the print and produce 5 x 10ft signs, which is a huge bonus for us. There are lots of little things that we couldn’t do before but now we can, it makes our lives so much easier.’

The 1620mm media width of the JV100-160 compared to the 1370mm of the older machines also simplifies the production and installation of vinyl wraps amongst other applications. In conjunction with the litho print facility it means the company can cater to most print requirements, from business cards, through to brochures, booklets, folders, signage, banners, vehicle livery, window graphics, pull-up stands and canvas prints, confirms Ms Grice, who also praised CMYUK’s pre-sales, installation and subsequent support service.

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Premier promises an ‘engaging and eye-catching stand’ on which it will be showcasing products from its extensive range of display graphic media including brands including ContraVision, Neschen, Ultraboard, Ritram and Plexiglas.

Premier’s product and application experts will be on hand to deliver product information, demonstrations and advice on how to transform space into ‘memorable and innovative’ retail displays and graphics. There will also be live competitions run throughout the course of each of the three days, with various prizes up for grabs and one or two special guest appearances.

QPS will showcase a wide range of wide-format print offerings. As the UK distributor for the Colorjet range, the company will have a Colorjet Verve 2513 UV flatbed printer running throughout the event, using Nazdar inks and suitable for direct printing onto rigid surfaces, including wood, glass, leather and ceramic tiles at speeds of up to 38sqm/hr.

QPS will also be highlighting the Nazdar range of alternative digital inks. Said to be up to 30% cheaper than OEM inks, they are claimed to provide the same or better colour and print performance, backed by a warranty that covers the entire ink train. Also featured will be DuPont Artistri textile inks, which QPS says deliver vibrant colours that last, with impressive colour fastness and UV resistance.

Soyang Europe and Josero will demonstrate hardware from manufacturing partners Fujifilm, Jetrix and Mimaki, as well as display an applications wall with products created using its own wide- and super-wide format digitally-printable materials. Hardware highlights on the stand will include the Fujifilm Acuity Prime flatbed; the 90sqm/hr Jetrix LXiR320 3.2m roll-to-roll LED-UV; the Mimaki UJF6042 MkII UV flatbed and UJV100-160 entry-level roll to roll UV printer; plus the Bubble-Free flatbed applicator table.

Soyang Europe will be demonstrating a selection of digitally printable wide-format and superwide-format media and surface coverings for industries including sign and display, design, marketing, construction and décor. In particular, it will be highlighting Solar non-PVC banner materials, The Print Media Collection, textile materials, wallcovering and décor media, plus self-adhesive floor coverings.

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