Carbon Colour invest in a Canon Colorado M3 UVgel roll-to-roll printer from CMYUK
Carbon Colour has installed a Canon Colorado M3 UVgel dedicated roll-to-roll printer from CMYUK. The new printer will ultimately replace the company’s existing 4 x HP Latex printers to ensure greater workflow efficiency, higher productivity, and improved colour consistent output.
“We were basically accumulating HP Latex printers and as demand grew this became an impractical way of doing things. We were easily persuaded that the Colorado was a really good way of streamlining our processes. While output from our Latex printers was good, we found that we got a much better-looking print from the Colorado. Not that anyone was complaining before, but it’s much more satisfying being able to deliver the best solution that you can to your customers,” says Nigel Allen, CEO, Carbon Colour.
Based in Milton Park, Oxfordshire, Carbon Colour specialises in the design and production of long-term display graphics for offices and the care sector which includes hospitals, health centres and secure mental health facilities. In addition to printing and finishing, the company has an in-house team of graphic designers that are well versed in the particular requirements for both image content and materials sympathetic to these particular environments. The design team creates original concepts for clients, produces designs in collaboration with customer organisations, or processes customer supplied artwork.
Carbon Colour handles all its own installations in-house and has long standing teams that are highly experienced at dealing with the health and safety issues that go alongside working amongst vulnerable and sometimes unpredictable groups of patients.
The CMYUK factor
Nigel has a long-standing business relationship with Adam Booth, who has recently joined CMYUK from R A Smart, and when he needed to up the ante on his production workflow to deal with growing volumes, he didn’t hesitate in calling Adam.
“We like to work with Adam because we trust him. From the moment we met him, he’s always demonstrated a keen interest in our company and our ambitions. He always does his research, is proactive, and very hard working. We’ve been introduced to the wider CMYUK portfolio through Adam, and we’re sure that with more equipment and materials to sell he’s going to excel,” says Nigel.
Futureproofing with the Colorado M Series
Both Adam and Nigel had spoken about the Canon Colorado as the perfect next step for the business, given that it had a growing and constant volume of work that could justify new investment.
The Colorado M Series is a fully modular system that can be configured and upgraded as and when required. It is also designed for the lowest cost of ownership featuring low ink usage, low energy use, and minimal media waste.
There are a variety of upgrades available, the majority of which do not require a service visit. These include in-field speed enhancements, the addition of white ink, the availability of FLXfinish that enables a gloss or matt print at the touch of a button, or the ability to combine both in a single pass. ‘Double-sided’ and ‘print-side-in’ printing is also an option as is the availability of a magnetic media kit.
The modularity of the system was a key attraction for Carbon Colour. “The modular nature of the M3 made it an easy choice for us to purchase. I had seen the Colorado at a print show, but it was our production guys, Duncan Coates and Scott Bibby that went for a demo at CMYUK’s demonstration and training centre in Shrewsbury with Adam. I was very keen, but it was important to me that they bought into the idea and were both as enthusiastic about this printer as much as I was. I’m happy to say that the experience we’ve had with CMYUK has been seamless. The training has been excellent, and we’re excited to move forward with this new technology,” says Nigel.
One of the most noticeable aspects of the Colorado for Nigel is its vibrancy of colour. “We never had any complaints with our HP Latex output, but once we saw the superior colour from the Colorado, we could really see the difference,” he says.
Following the technology
About to enter its 35th year of trading, Carbon Colour has gone full circle. Founded in 1990 as a colour copying bureau that used Canon’s revolutionary CLC colour technology. Its investment in Canon’s fourth generation UVgel M series technology launched in March last year further supports its onward commercial trajectory.
Says Nigel, “We typically produce wallcoverings, wallpapers, and canvases that are wrapped around Foamex rather than stretched on wooden frames. With the Colorado M3 we can elevate our offerings further with premium wallpapers and the use of both matt and gloss for a real high-end feel. In addition to our healthcare work, our corporate work is increasing, and we will be launching our acoustic sound management solutions in the near future.
“Our main focus is to provide durable, safe, large bright images for a wide variety of health and care-sensitive settings. Getting this right really makes a difference to the internal ambience, creating a more optimistic and less clinical feel, which ultimately has an impact on those who experience these settings daily.”