In tough economic times, Laurel Graphics has been able to expand both its printing capabilities and its production capacity with an Inca Spyder V printer.

Laurel Graphics is a close-knit company that was built on hard work and long hours spent by a dedicated staff of 15 people. They produce POP materials, printed on everything from card stock to acrylics. Originally a screen printer with an acrylic fabrication facility, the company entered digital production in 2001. They purchased one of the early-model Inca printers, an Eagle H and a few years later, they upgraded to an Inca Columbia Turbo.

Recently, the company needed to increase capacity, particularly its digital print capabilities. After looking at samples printed by a few competitive devices, they decided to purchase an Inca Spyder V, with CMYK plus white ink. "We were impressed with the samples from the Inca Spyder V, with the ability to print finer text-and the white ink," comments Kevin Ortiz, (title). "In addition, the Inca Spyder V is the most productive Inca Spyder model and we knew its production speed would be the best choice to provide us with additional capacity."

The Inca Spyder V printer has a unique Inca designed printhead array that delivers greater throughput than the Inca Spyder 320 printers. Print speed is up to 1000sqft/hr in production mode with a maximum speed of 1,400sqft/hr. While the Inca Spyder V's standard color set is four-color CMYK, a six-color version is also available, allowing a printing company to use Fujifilm Sericol's Uvijet Ultratone color system.

After just over six months, the company reports that the printer is doing very well. "The Inca Spyder is very easy to use. It's simple to set up and change work from job to job. We use it to run some of the smaller lot jobs," explains Ortiz. "The Inca Spyder V picks up our overflow, and the white is a nice additional feature."

In fact, white ink capability has offered Laurel Graphics some new business opportunities. One of their customers owns a graphics company who is working with composite wood laminates. To make the work easier, Laurel Graphics prints the customer's components before they build their items. It gives the customer more capacity to produce items with non-standard materials. "We also create a lot of window clings," says Ortiz. "The static cling decals with clear background need to be clean and solid behind the images. Previously, we screened the white background and then printed the artwork on the Columbia Turbo. The white ink option on the Inca Spyder allows us to print a white undercoat in the same process as the artwork is printed. It has helped eliminate some of the steps, such as building the white screen. It's faster, now, too."

The Inca Spyder V has helped Laurel Graphics add capacity, which means more work in less time. "It's helped us work 20% less hours," explains Ortiz. "For example, in December we were running both our Inca Spyder V and Inca Columbia Turbo, operating 24/7 because we had so much work."

"In my opinion, you can't go wrong purchasing an Inca Digital flatbed inkjet printer. We really like using a dedicated flatbed printer rather than the combination hybrids. The feedback I've got from employees who have worked elsewhere is that the quality and support from Inca Digital is far and above better than other print vendors," concludes Ortiz. "Inca's technical support is awesome. With the Inca Spyder V, we've been able to get both production and quality."