Hello everyone!
Not sure if this is the right spot to ask this, but here goes...
I am currently in the position of helping a growing company implement an in-house graphics operation. They have always outsourced their printing and are now wanting to do it all under one roof.
Personally, I've been involved in most aspects of graphics / printing for the past couple of decades (design, prepress, variable data, marketing, running smaller roll machines, etc.), and have a decent grasp on the business as a whole, but have never had to be the person to choose equipment of this type to set up a shop. I'd also like to get some recommendations of vendors for this equipment, preferably in the Midwest area. I'm hoping this is a good place to ask for some assistance!
That said, here's where we are at the moment. It'll be a graphic shop mainly for its own internal client, so we would mostly be printing our own work. Not a huge, busy shop bringing in tons of work, but we'll be printing daily. We'd want to print on rigid materials (acrylic, foamcore, PVC, etc.), as well as occasional objects (USB drives, cases, etc.), as well as roll materials. We'd need to contour cut vinyl, and would also like to contour cut the rigid substrates at times (e.g. dimensional lettering, standees). So, having said all this, we're needing an equipment setup like this: printer(s) that can do white ink, print on rigid and roll, has a decent height margin for objects, can cut to shape on roll/thin materials as well as rigid substrates.
An example configuration I've come up with for the main hardware is:
Roland VersaUV LEJ-640FT UV Flatbed Printer (for rigid and objects)
Roland TrueVIS VG (54") Printer / Cutter with Media Take-Up Unit (for roll and contour vinyl cutting)
Flatbed Contour Cutter / Router (not sure where to even start here)
You can get an idea of budget from what I've listed above. We'd also have to get all of the ancillary equipment as well (material stands, workstation, rip machines, etc.), but that can come later with a specific vendor.
As far as the vendor goes, I'd also need someone who can offer all of the installation and training necessary for this equipment, and support for getting them running well, help with a color matching system, etc. etc. We're not in a position to just have the stuff dumped on us and wished the best of luck.
So... given this information, what do you experienced, educated sign industry folks think? What kind of equipment do you recommend for this endeavor, and what's the best place we can get it?
Thanks so much for your help!
-Joe
Not sure if this is the right spot to ask this, but here goes...
I am currently in the position of helping a growing company implement an in-house graphics operation. They have always outsourced their printing and are now wanting to do it all under one roof.
Personally, I've been involved in most aspects of graphics / printing for the past couple of decades (design, prepress, variable data, marketing, running smaller roll machines, etc.), and have a decent grasp on the business as a whole, but have never had to be the person to choose equipment of this type to set up a shop. I'd also like to get some recommendations of vendors for this equipment, preferably in the Midwest area. I'm hoping this is a good place to ask for some assistance!
That said, here's where we are at the moment. It'll be a graphic shop mainly for its own internal client, so we would mostly be printing our own work. Not a huge, busy shop bringing in tons of work, but we'll be printing daily. We'd want to print on rigid materials (acrylic, foamcore, PVC, etc.), as well as occasional objects (USB drives, cases, etc.), as well as roll materials. We'd need to contour cut vinyl, and would also like to contour cut the rigid substrates at times (e.g. dimensional lettering, standees). So, having said all this, we're needing an equipment setup like this: printer(s) that can do white ink, print on rigid and roll, has a decent height margin for objects, can cut to shape on roll/thin materials as well as rigid substrates.
An example configuration I've come up with for the main hardware is:
Roland VersaUV LEJ-640FT UV Flatbed Printer (for rigid and objects)
Roland TrueVIS VG (54") Printer / Cutter with Media Take-Up Unit (for roll and contour vinyl cutting)
Flatbed Contour Cutter / Router (not sure where to even start here)
You can get an idea of budget from what I've listed above. We'd also have to get all of the ancillary equipment as well (material stands, workstation, rip machines, etc.), but that can come later with a specific vendor.
As far as the vendor goes, I'd also need someone who can offer all of the installation and training necessary for this equipment, and support for getting them running well, help with a color matching system, etc. etc. We're not in a position to just have the stuff dumped on us and wished the best of luck.
So... given this information, what do you experienced, educated sign industry folks think? What kind of equipment do you recommend for this endeavor, and what's the best place we can get it?
Thanks so much for your help!
-Joe
