Cannock, Staffordshire-based Kazoo Print has installed an EFI Pro 30h 3.2m UV LED hybrid wide-format printer from CMYUK as part of a restructuring plan, the third EFI UV hybrid the business has bought.
Founder of the 19 year-old business Simon Talbot explained the rationale for the new investment: ‘Our old Vutek GS and QS models have been brilliant machines, but we wanted to step up to the next generation of EFI technology for improved colour consistency, speed and a more sustainable print solution. We want to offer our clients something a little different, a little bit more.’
With 30% growth over the last year, the company had a pressing need to increase capacity. The combination of the Pro 30h’s versatility and speed plus 130% tax relief made its immediate purchase both attractive and manageable. The printer’s ability to handle dual rolls and continuous back-to-back board printing in particular supported Kazoo’s workload, which includes work for a nationwide retail customer with a regular requirement for over 7000 separate lines of artwork for each of its stores.
‘Dealing with 7000 different pieces of artwork can get a bit crazy so we need a really quick changeover for different materials and thicknesses. We haven’t got time to wait for a printer to reboot or reset. The Pro 30h hybrid is excellent for swapping between different materials and substrates,’ noted Mr Talbot.
He also added, ‘The white [ink] on the Pro 30h was a big deal for us. We do a lot of double-sided such as window displays and clings, so the five-layer printing has enabled us to print double-sided in a single pass. With our older Vuteks, we would run CMYK, White, then put it back through to print black, white and CMYK again, or we’d put two pieces down together. We do a lot of double-sided work, so this multi-layer printing has been a real winner. It saves us time, making the process so much neater and more straightforward.’
The company has also benefited from reduced ink costs compared to its older printers and is anticipating reduced energy bills too. Mr Talbot added, ‘The green credentials around this machine are a real selling point’.
