Cactus Imaging sharpens production with Fujifilm Uvistar Pro 8
Sydney’s Cactus Imaging, part of the Opus Print Group, is renowned not just within Australia, but internationally as an industry-changing innovator, not afraid to push the boundaries of grand format digital printing to their very limits. For both outdoor and indoor advertising, Cactus has equipped its Silverwater, Sydney facility with a formidable array of grand format printing power. Now, a Fujifilm Uvistar Pro 8 has joined that fleet.
Cactus Imaging’s global reputation was confirmed in March 2014 when its General Manager, Strategic Business Development, Keith Ferrel received the FESPA World Printer of the Year Award in Munich, Germany. From a field of 1,600 entrants covering 40 countries, Ferrel took out the top accolade following three successive years of ‘top five’ finishes. From wrapping an entire town hall to graphics on skyscrapers and trains, there is nothing that Cactus, with its 45 dedicated staff, is not capable of if it involves large and grand format digital printing.
With a stable of roll and flatbed imaging technology fundamentally from one supplier, it was an unusual move for Cactus to install, in late 2014, a Fujifilm Uvistar Pro8 five-meter grand format printer – the company’s first device from Fujifilm. Keith Ferrel takes up the story:
“We were initially attracted by the reputed speed, versatility and print quality of the Uvistar and believed that it could give us the ability to diversify into a number of other areas but also allow us to output at faster speeds with increased quality into our core grand format business,” he says.
Fujifilm’s National Sales Manager Paul Budgen oversaw trials and test runs, which were also performed on other non-Fujifilm devices. He says: “Cactus Imaging is a very prestigious account to win, with clients covering the full range from advertising agencies, outdoor media companies, direct clients and a large number of overseas clients. We have seen run lengths generally ranging from 500 square metres, up to a recently completed run of 5,800 square metres.”
“We looked at a number of alternative machines but the Uvistar met our print requirements better than others tested,” says Ferrel, adding: “we have also noticed an increased colour gamut in comparison to our other equipment, with the exception of the Latex technology. The Uvistar also delivers better ink adhesion on a wider range of substrates.”
Expectations exceeded
Following three months of production, Cactus Imaging’s Uvistar has kept up with, or exceeded expectations: “While we match colour to our own internal standards, the increased gamut, adhesion and flexibility of the Uvijet inks offers us greater scope. Versatility is also a big benefit as we can run it as a five metre wide rollprinter or place up to three 1600mm media rolls side-by-side for unbeatable 1.6 metre productivity. Additionally, we are using the Uvistar as a flatbed machine, since we purchased the vacuum table with it and can print rigid media up to 25mm thick on boards up to 2.5 x 3.3 metres in dimension.”
Cactus Imaging is mainly running flex vinyl and SAV (self-adhesive vinyl) through the Uvistar but is using increasing amounts of polyethylene and fabrics. A large amount of the popular coreflute, and other rigid substrates, find their way onto the device with the flatbed option activated. Inks are switched between a twin set of cmyk for billboard production, to cmyk plus the lights and white for speciality work. Cactus’ Uvistar Pro 8 also includes a front-to-back registration camera for backlit panels and is driven by a ColourGate Rip.
“It’s definitely living up to our expectations,” says Ferrel, “and we have found dealing with Fujifilm Australia to be very good. They are very professional and willing but we are still getting to know them and they are getting to know us. Technical support has been adequate for our requirements. Our staff find the Uvistar is very user friendly and our print technicians have adapted well to it.
“For example, we used to struggle with printing on polyethylene, experiencing poor ink adhesion. Since the Uvistar came on-stream it has performed very well indeed on PE media, which is opening up yet another avenue of business for us,” he concludes.
Snapshot – Cactus Imaging
Cactus Imaging began in New Zealand in 1992 when former newspaperman Keith Ferrel and Warwick Spicer saw the prospects presented by the then nascent wide-format plotters, driven by RIPs. The business grew to expand into Australia and beyond, establishing a sales office in Singapore to service the SE Asian market, under the guidance of Nigel Spicer. In 2008, Cactus was acquired by Opus Print Group, now a publicly listed ASX (code: OPG) company majority owned by Hong Kong HKSE-listed 1010 Print Group. Cactus employs 45 staff and is a major contributor to Opus Print Group’s revenues.
Snapshot – FujifilmUVISTAR PRO 8
Description: Roll and rigid media hybrid grand format UV printer
Media width: Available in 3.8 and 5.3 metre maximum media widths
Maximum productivity: 353 sqm/hr (5 metre model)
Printheads: Choice of 16 or 32 piezo drop-on-demand printheads
Resolution: 600dpi (actual) up to 1200dpi (apparent)
Inkset: Uvijet UV inks, cmyk+ four others including lightC, lightK, lightM & white
RIP: ColourGate