Andrew McCabe, MD, DaftBug Branding Co.

The addition of a 3.2m wide printer, plugs in-house production gaps and lends itself to the adoption of sustainable textiles from UFabrik, Kavalan and PONGS® 

CMYUK, Shrewsbury: DaftBug Branding Co. in Dublin, Ireland has invested in an EFI VUTEk Pro 32r UV LED printer from CMYUK. The implementation of 3.2m capacity has plugged the remaining gaps within the business’ in-house production capabilities, ensuring a self-sufficiency to cope with any demands from its Blue-Chip client base.

“We like to refer to ourselves as the Event Industry Sidekick. Since we launched in 2011, we’ve provided a full service offering to the events industry but our 3.2m work was outsourced,” says MD, Andrew McCabe.

The increasing amount of supersize printing plus the focus on eco-responsible materials by big brand clients were the drivers to purchase the printer.

“Sustainability is a big factor for our customers now, so when it comes to the big backdrops and large branding areas, we want to use recycled textile products from materials manufacturers like UFabrik,” he says.

EFI and CMYUK
Andrew visited one of the CMYUK Open House events last year where he first saw the EFI VUTEk Pro 32r. Designed to be more profitable and economical, this all-in-one production grade printer offers fast turnaround speeds and increased capacity. The cool cure LED technology increases the opportunity to output more premium margin work, whilst reducing operating costs and owners’ environmental footprint.

“When you invest in machinery there’s so much more to consider than just the hardware itself. It’s about the particular company you buy your printer from and the support and service that it offers,” says Andrew.

In addition to the back-up from CMYUK and EFI, what impressed Andrew about the VUTEk Pro 32r is its colour fidelity. “Blue-chip companies are very colour-orientated and have specific Pantones for their corporate identities. The Fiery XF RIP developed by EFI comes embedded within the printer and offers the clientele that we deal with the assurance that all colours can be matched. We’ve used Fiery in the past and trust its colour management capabilities completely,” he says.

What also impressed Andrew is the speed and quality of VUTEk Pro 32r. “It’s a hands down winner without any apparent compromises,” he says.

Installation
Installation was faultless and dovetailed with training in the first week. This was followed by the arrival of CMYUK’s Academy Manager, Amira Bouchiba who came on-site to audit the business’ existing workflow and make strategic improvements to ensure the successful full integration of the VUTEk printer.

“Amira helped us to improve efficiency. She has extensive experience of working in the field – she completely understands what it’s like to work with production equipment in real life away from the manufacturer’s showrooms,” says Andrew.

Green materials
In addition to evaluating production equipment at the CMYUK Open Day, Andrew had the opportunity to learn more about CMYUK’s eco material ranges, which are supplied in Ireland by Materials Solutions, CMYUK’s exclusive distributor there.

To ensure that EFI VUTEk customers achieves immediate out-of-the-box success with printed textiles, UFabrik has collaborated with the former to ensure that all its colour profiles are available on the Fiery XF RIP and can be accessed directly from the Fiery Profiles Updater.

“All the UFabrik profiles had been done for us, so we didn’t have to do any profiling on the new materials saving us a great deal of time and effort. It’s been very helpful,” he says.

Future plans
As far as the short to medium term future is concerned, the business has plans to extend its 3.2m capability to the trade and will continue to consult and implement events projects from concept to finish.

Says Andrew, “Our clients know that they can leave everything to us. We are committed to delivering exceptional brand image from design, production and installation across a wide range of applications including wall graphics, vehicle graphics, workplace branding, branded uniforms and more. Investing in the VUTEk Pro 32r is the last piece of the puzzle, giving us total control over production for even better customer service, enhanced image quality, increased speed, and exceptional colour reproduction on the most advanced eco materials currently available.”