Digital Finishing For Point Of Sale

The most difficult question facing printing companies is ‘how can I add value in a rapidly changing market- place?’ We’re all familiar with the background of rising costs, falling revenues and difficulties with managing credit, so it’s hardly surprising that forward looking people in our industry have sought out new markets.

A good example is Monaghan-based Universal Graphics who’ve recently installed a Kongsberg iXL44 combined with ArtiosCAD 3D design software with an array of tools to expand what they can do for their clients.

Universal Graphics have built their own brand by providing the best in fleet branding solutions to a wide range of clients. The skills perfected on vehicle graphic projects led to the develop- ment of new and innovative ways to communicate in Point of Sales (POS) situations.

‘We work closely with our clients on communicating a clear message,’ says Simon Murray of Universal Graphics. ‘The value of a brand exists in the minds of customers and is determined by how you interact with them in all your marketing communica- tion. The Kongsberg table allows us to design new and exciting ways of getting the message across.’

This shift to digital methods has also focused attention on how the resulting output is finished, especially for demanding POS customers. As is typical in the rest of printing, run lengths are dropping, which in turn puts extra pressure on traditional die cutting processes. Without a complete end-to-end digital of- fering, the full benefits of this new opportunity are not fully re- alised.

Esko, a long standing print supplier, merged with Kongsberg to create the fastest production digital die cutting and creasing range available today. Starting with the manually loaded XP24 with a basic creasing/cutting head, and working up through the options to a fully automated iXL44, Kongsberg tables are not just making samples but are now integrated into mass produc- tion environments in a number of Irish sites.

From humble beginnings in prototyping and sample making, the Kongsberg range now supports not just cutting and creas- ing but also routing. Innovative registration systems allow both manual and automatic loading in an accurate manner. Multi function heads mean that a wide variety of materials can be used and options are available to load and unload work auto- matically.

So effective are these new methods that Reprocentre Group has seen multiple installations in Ireland over the past 18 months, which is remarkable given the current climate. ‘Several more installation into a numaber of diverse applications will take place over the coming weeks,’ says Tom McIntyre. ‘This is in addi- tion to our existing customers, some of whom have invested in two Kongsberg tables to meet increased demand. We are convinced that this technology really is making a vital difference to our customers and we would be delighted to discuss its ben- efits with a wider audience.’