Over the years, Sign & Digital UK has stood as the epitome of innovation and inspiration for the visual communications sector, and Premier was excited to be part of it, with a track record of past successful shows. Premier returned in 2024 with another eye catching, engaging exhibition stand. 

Premier introduced the ‘Display Royale’ and ‘Signage HQ,’ which hosted a variety of materials from their display graphics product range. The ‘Ice Bar’ for example, was adorned in Premier’s premium range of aluminium composite, eTEC ACM 3D, in the striking brushed silver finish. In addition, the backdrop for the iconic Aston Martin DB5 on Premier’s stand, was printed on Drytac Polar Blockout, an opaque printable block out film, suitable for solvent, latex and UV inks.  

The demonstration tables and windows were made of clear 5mm and opaque 5mm Plexiglas which allowed space for graphics to be applied and removed. The use of cast acrylic material helped to showcase the products’ high gloss finish, as well as favoured functionalities such as being lighter and stronger than glass. Premier’s overhead signage was produced using Foamalux Light, a foam board with a surface for direct mounting. It’s lightweight too which makes it easier to handle and hang than many other display materials.  

For visitors’ eyes only, casino tables had been produced especially for the merchant’s stand, using Ultraboard; the UK manufactured honeycomb board. Naturally, printed samples of eTEC ACM, E-Opaque board and Diplast, took the form of poker chips and playing cards. The stand also boasted a stylish lounge area, which provided a perfect backdrop for networking and socialising and of course, the promotional giveaways made a return. 

‘We don’t just attend Sign & Digital UK; we embrace a mission to redefine the norms of the sign and display market,’ said Brad Goldsmith, marketing manager at Premier. ‘Our presence at the show is not just about products; it’s about pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation. We’re creating a spectacle that leaves an indelible mark on the industry.’ 

The three-day event started on a Sunday for the first time which ensured accessibility for businesses to come and witness the latest products without compromising valuable business time. Another first for show was that it was co-hosted with the Printwear and Promotion show in the neighbouring hall, which allowed the free flow of visitors to experience both exhibitions with the same ticket. 

The merging of the two exhibitions provided Premier with the perfect platform to showcase some of the bespoke bags and packaging solutions from sister company WBC (Wine Box Company). A dedicated zone was created on the stand to display a collection of printed, fabric bags, whilst hampers, wine boxes and void fill were displayed in the Ice Bar.   

Mr Goldsmith further emphasises Premier’s commitment to supporting the UK industry, stating, ‘Attending events like Sign & Digital UK is our way of giving back to our customers. We believe in the power of collaboration and innovation to drive the industry forward. Our team of experts are always on hand to answer queries and provide tailored advice to address the unique needs of businesses.’ 

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Claimed benefits include reduced static, greater resistance to wet abrasion, and an improved paper-like feel, plus improved paper jogging at the output of the printer. The new coating formula is also said to offer improved scratch resistance.

Polyart says print tests were carried out on the leading brands of laser (dry toner) presses and that typical applications include projects such as invitations, catalogue and book covers, bookmarks, bottleneck collars, menus, door hangers, PoP displays and shelf wobblers. The material also described as ideal for projects that require durability, like tags and labels, sales tags, refrigerated product labels, luggage tags, safety notices, warranty cards, and maintenance manuals. It also performs ‘exceptionally well’ in outdoor applications, including maps, guides, manuals, running numbers and signage.

Polyart Laser is available in 118, 190, 261 and 368gsm (95 – 270micron) and 320 x 450mm sheets, with custom sizes on request.

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The flatbed cutter has a four-tool head that includes two passive contour/drag cut-and-crease tools and two active tangential tools with a new deep-cutting tangential blade and tangential crease wheel. It can cut and crease materials up to 3mm thick, suiting it for on-demand prototype pieces and light production runs.

The FB1180-T offers two working modes: direct – using Intec’s ColorCut Pro software running direct from a PC, or held (standalone operation) mode, in which jobs can be stored internally on the cutter or loaded from a USB stick, allowing the machine to be located anywhere in a production environment and run from its 7-in touchscreen.

While all Intec cutters offer automated job processing via reading a QR code and page marks printed on the sheet to be handled, the FB1180-T adds page edge detection. Page This enables processing of printed jobs from the rear of the sheet, producing accurate cutting and creasing ‘every time’.

Terri Winstanley, Intec marketing manager, said, ‘The FB1180-T is a very exciting leap forward for our digital cutter range. This model is the first of a series of cutters to offer a new four-tool head that includes tangential tools, for deeper cutting and creasing of thicker substrates. It also hosts the new high-powered controller and expanded graphics interface that will be seen on all our digital die-cutters.’

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The ColorCut SC6000 is a free-standing, on-demand digital sheet cutter and creaser, with no physical cutting dies or set-up costs. It is targeted at those seeking an affordable, high-capacity device, capable of unattended cutting.

John Brailsford Printers, a Rotherham shop-fronted business, reviewed several potential products. Company owner John Brailsford remarked, ‘We had looked at a variety of potential solutions, but nothing was quite suited to our needs. Either they were too expensive, were overly complex, or they still needed dies to be produced. The previous Intec machine, the SC5000 was close, but not quite large enough to handle the range of stock that we needed to process. We thought we were just going to have to stick to outsourcing any work that required die cutting.

A call from Ray Hillhouse at Morgana introduced the SC6000 to Brailsford, which overcame the limitations of the smaller model. The SC6000 is a hybrid automated cutter that blends flatbed and sheet-fed technologies, to give a maximum working area of 340 x 710mm, plus  a range of updated features.

Mr Brailsford added, ‘We introduced the SC6000 to our studio people initially. They were able to easily understand the ‘front-end’ of the machine. The output from the studio, including cutting requirements and run length, is encapsulated in a QR code, meaning that all the people at the post-press end of the factory need to concern themselves with is selecting the right stock and scanning the QR code printed on the job.

‘This machine is quite amazing. The results have been quite superb. We keep thinking up new ways of using it – with labels, for example, we are now running through our stock of pre-cut labels, and then we can simply use the SC6000 to kiss-cut the labels for us on plain adhesive-backed stock. That means any sized, or shaped, self-adhesive label is possible, and we don’t need to have the expense of holding any stock of various sized at all.’

Mr Brailsford said, ‘The feeder is a critical element for such a machine, and this one is amazing! It will feed virtually any stock, it seems, eliminating any static issues, and the potential for any doubles.’

Accordind to Morgana, particular attention was paid to the feeding system to ensure good performance levels for card, vinyl labels, or even laminated sheets. The SC6000’s auto feeder accepts up to 900 sheets, raising or lowering as required. 

‘We had been sending work such as short-run boxes, pocket folders, and various other cut-outs, to an external supplier. That kind of work has definitely been on the increase, so this really was the right time for us to bring such tasks in-house – it’s going to cut our outwork bill significantly, and therefore will pay for itself in no time,’ added Mr Brailsford.

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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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The ‘3D proof’ event will take place at Vivid’s showroom in Ashby De La Zouch, Leicestershire, and will demonstrate the production of packaging mock-ups, including cartons, labels and foil packs, on real packaging substrates.

Printing will be done on Roland machines supplied by SOS, the LEC2-330 and LEF2-300. Samples will then be cut and folded on Vivid’s VeloBlade cutter range, enabling visitors to take away a finished product. 

The Roland LEC2-330 UV printer prints directly onto the production substrate and premium labels. It has a maximum 762mm media width and can print, cut, perforate, varnish, emboss and add textured UV. The LEF2-300 is a direct-to-object benchtop UV printer, for objects up to 100mm thick. It enables the printing of photos, graphics and finely-detailed text onto PVC and plastics, canvas, wood, leather, fabric, acrylics and glass.

The event will showcase GMG colour management on the LEC2-330, which enables accurate proofs on packaging production substrates, incorporating white ink, allowing for accurate colour reproduction on transparent and metallic materials.

Also featured will be Vivid’s range of print finishing equipment, including lamination, digital foiling, cutting, creasing and folding. Vivid will also be demonstrating its Zip Core Packaging Software, which has been developed to support the packaging design process.

SOS sales manager Ashley Fleming said, ‘The latest equipment and software for packaging proofs can achieve levels of speed and accuracy which a decade ago would be unheard of. This is a must-see event for anyone in the packaging industry.’

Opening times are 10am to 5.30pm on 14 September 2022, and 10am to 3.30pm on 15 September 2022.

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The B1-plus format VeloBlade cutting table will allow the company to bring die-cutting in-house, thus reducing costs on short runs and speeding up production times.

Production director David Duncan said, ‘We looked at numerous cutting table solutions such as large format roll-fed cutters and stickers on rolls. We chose the VeloBlade Volta 1070+ from Vivid as it was the most compatible finishing solution for our printing processes. Switching from job to job quickly with minimal set-up changes is key for the high number of small- to medium-sized orders we receive daily, and most importantly the system meets our customers’ needs from an end-product perspective.

‘The Veloblade digital cutting system will also unlock many more opportunities for our longer-term product roadmap and for customers via our bespoke service. Custom shape stickers are our primary focus, with packaging another area we are very keen to explore, but the opportunities really are endless.’

Mr Duncan stated that he is extremely pleased with the Volta’s performance so far. ‘We are busy putting the system through its paces and really testing its versatility with complex and intricate shapes, kiss-cutting and creasing. Our favourite products have been the hexagon-shaped business cards and the arch-shaped and round wedding invitations. These are popular with our customers and a current trend in the industry, but this is only scratching the surface of what it can do.

‘The service we have received from Vivid throughout the process has been excellent, from the in-depth demonstration [to the] training by their servicer engineers, as well as the continued support whilst we get to grips with the new system,’ Mr Duncan concluded.

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Initially Solopress is offering two different methods by which customers can order the stickers. Customers can upload a single artwork at the company’s website and the site’s online proofing tool will step and repeat it as appropriate. Alternatively, designers can supply ready-imposed artwork, along with their prescribed cutter guide. The latter approach lets customers create any number of unique custom shape labels on a single sheet.

Solopress believes that this new offering will benefit small businesses and print resellers alike. It expects that small brands and start-ups that have a quirky, personal approach to their products and marketing will quickly find a use for personalised labels. The company offers substrates suitable for food packaging, clear jars or bottles, outdoor environments and deep-freeze.

Managing director Simon Cooper commented, ‘We saw incredibly resilient demand for stickers and labels throughout the pandemic, and our research revealed significant interest in a custom shape option. The Motioncutter 23 is a truly impressive piece of kit and we’re delighted to have it on board to help us address this market.

‘The outstanding capabilities of the Motioncutter machine aren’t limited to kiss-cutting stickers and the acquisition opens some exciting possibilities, with other new laser-cut products such as brochures, invitations and bespoke presentation folders slated for later in the year.’

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The company delivers over two million bouquets of fresh flowers a year and prides itself on its ethical stance and customer service. Each bouquet is arranged and hand-tied, and may be further customised with additional non-floral products, including personalised greetings cards, but Arena wanted to automate the card inserting, sorting, addressing and courier label creation process to increase its capacity, particularly around peak times such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, when many last-minute orders arrive.

‘We wanted to reduce the reliance on manual labour involved in inserting cards into envelopes, scanning bar codes, creating address labels and the subsequent sorting into batches, according to date, courier, product type and gift add-ons,’ explained Arena CEO John Hackett.

‘We needed to find a way to introduce new levels of automation so looked at other industries to see what we could learn. A critical factor was that a new system would not compromise our personalised offer and be able to handle 15,000 orders per hour at peak times. High-speed mail and sortation technologies were an obvious solution and Kern’s in-depth approach impressed us the most. The determination of the team to understand our challenge and then tailor a system to future-proof our operations was impressive.’

The Kern solution was a bespoke mail inserting and sorting system involving an inserter machine to place greetings cards in envelopes and a sortation machine with barcode readers to sort cards into different batches to be matched with the correct bouquets. Going live just in time for Mother’s Day 2021, the system effectively tripled the peak capacity and allowed 46 members of staff to be re-deployed elsewhere in the business. It is anticipated that the investment will pay for itself within three years.

Direct mail will be the application focus in the next issue of Digital Printer. If you’re not already registered to receive the printed magazine or its online version, you can do so in a couple of minutes, free of charge here.

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Established in 1991 in Kaunas, Aurika operates across the Baltic region, producing self-adhesive labels, sticky labels, wrap-around labels and flexible packaging for the food, beverage and cosmetic industries.

A longstanding HP customer, Aurika was producing around 5000 jobs every month with its existing HP Indigo 6800 and six narrow web flexo presses. However the company recognised the need to expand its digital printing capabilities if it were to increase output and tap into trends and level-up the business. 

CEO Arūnas Akstinas explained, ‘We anticipate that digital is going to be the future of printing, therefore and we chose to act upon this immediately. We have been listening to what our customers think and feel, and we found this matches with HP’s values: high-quality printing, shorter print runs and a large selection of raw materials.

‘With the new HP Indigo 8K digital press, labels can be personalised for competitive prices in a short time frame. Our team wanted to create a unique experience for our customers, and with the new HP Indigo 8K digital press, the possibilities are endless.’

The press has been designed with productivity in mind and has allowed Aurika to respond more quickly to changing demands. With the new press Aurika has also been able to address longer runs and colour critical jobs, opening up a whole new market for the company. Previously, it could only take on printing jobs of up 1500m in length; now Aurika can print orders between 3000-5000m long. With the help of PrintOS, Aurika has been able to measure press performance, which has been hugely beneficial when it comes to analysing business operations. 

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