"The abilities and capabilities with this machine are just amazing"

Hanover Park, IL - FUJIFILM North America Corporation, Graphic Systems Division’s Onset X1 with White offers high speeds and high quality at KD Kanopy, the ‘premier purveyor’ of pop-up canopies, located near Denver, Colorado.  

Over the past three decades, KD Kanopy has led the portable tent, canopy, banner, and signage industry with a continuum of new products and designs to help their clients attract new customers. KD Kanopy’s ‘high quality big tents’ are created for a global client base. Upwards of 1,320 square feet, they stand out and get noticed.  

“The reason we considered the Onset X1 mainly was for speed purposes,” said Jody Seltzer, VP of Operations, KD Kanopy, Inc. “We were looking at what we could do with an Onset versus a roll-to-roll printer.”

The Onset X1, producing 4,304ft² per hour (80 beds/hour) features eight active channels, with four channels printing CMYK, and the remaining channels configured as needed using a combination of Light magenta, Light cyan, White, and Orange (Lm, Lc, W, O).

Continues Seltzer, “The colors we’re getting on the Onset are absolutely amazing, obviously I can’t say enough about the speed. I manage all of our production; the Onset X1 makes my life so much easier. We are hitting super vibrant reds and greens and blues. The UV ink is great for our tents, as they are typically in the outdoor elements.”

Several years ago, KD Kanopy didn’t have any digital printing capabilities to speak of, and as they were outsourcing various jobs, Seltzer says they were getting traditional screen printing that was ‘very expensive’ and the quality was ‘really low.’ 

“It was a very tedious operation, and turnarounds took forever,” adds Seltzer. “We did our research, and then teamed up with a local group here in Denver and had them start doing some digital printing for us on our polyester (for our tents) and quickly realized that digital inkjet is the wave of the future.”

Prior to their Onset purchase, Seltzer and his colleagues visited Fujifilm’s Americas Technology Center in Chicago, and were well prepared for their hands-on experience. 

“Our time at the Technology Center was absolutely amazing,” says Seltzer. “We brought our own files, and printed four sample tents while we were there.” 

KD Kanopy is gaining new jobs, and customers, since acquiring their Onset X1.

“Without question we are seeing an increase in jobs, and we haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg yet,” says Seltzer. 

“We can now do print on rigid substrates, which we previously were not able to do,” adds Seltzer. “The Onset X1 has opened an entirely new world for us. So now we can actually print on boards and wood. If a customer can dream it up, we can print it on the Onset.” 

KD Kanopy is looking into printing on corrugated boxes and manufacturing POP displays to expand their reach with current and prospective clients. 

“A lot of the tents that we sell are to beverage manufacturers and/or distributors, and they’re always looking for new POP displays that they can put on countertops and things of that nature,” said Seltzer. “And now we can begin to offer that option; we can design them, we can print them, crease them, cut them, fold them, ship them, all in-house. This will be an entirely new element of our business.”

The Onset X1 has given KD Kanopy a welcomed boost in productivity and output, while also reducing production labor costs.

“The Onset X1 has increased my production, it’s literally six to eight times faster than what we were getting on the roll-to-roll device, with regard to handling flexible material and sheeting it prior to printing,” says Seltzer.   

“At this time of year, I’d be running upwards of two and a half shifts per day,” adds Seltzer. “And now, with the Onset X1, I’m completing all of our jobs in one shift, per day. We are clicking on all cylinders in production.” 

“The abilities and capabilities that we have now with this machine are just amazing; the Onset X1 has certainly transformed our business,” concludes Seltzer.