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The company has moved its Victorian operation into larger premises three times over the past two decades but has remained within its Port Melbourne base. Its main markets are the out-of-home, retail, and events areas, with clients ranging from the big nationals to SMEs. “We will print out a run of two or 2,000 – all our customers are important to us,” operations manager David Walton says.
Like all print businesses, Omnigraphics faced a trying time in the first half of last year, however, its market bounced back in the second half, according to Walton. “We started to see new opportunities, and output came back to near-normal levels.
“Omnigraphics is successful because of our combination of speed to market, quality of print, and ability to compete and offer a broad range of products. We have the quality and the
ability to cater for surges in demand.” Now the company is installing
the new Inca Onset X3 HS,
supplied by Fujifilm. It will be the company’s most highly productive, technological and effective flatbed, it runs hybrids alongside its roll-to-roll systems. It is also the first of the new Inca Onset HS high speed series in the country.
Walton says, “We are always looking to give the market more.
We decided we would bring new benefits to our customers if we had a dedicated flatbed. We also wanted to target work that is currently printed offset. The high speed of the Inca Onset will allow us to do that.
“With the new flatbed we can print on virtually anything; plastics, papers and boards, and ACM sheets. The ink adhesion is terrific.” — David Walton, Omnigraphics
post-installation service with service manager Michael Clare, and the two technicians, Craig Hudson and Yuval Shapir, have been spot-on.”
The Inca Onset X3 HS installed by Omnigraphics has three quarter auto loader, and comes with robot arms for load and unload, with the vacuum bed ensuring stability and registration. The Onset X3 HS has substrate handling options to load and unload media up to 3.22m x 1.6m, and in thicknesses of up to 50mm.
Fujifilm’s Hanlon says, “Omnigraphics has shown over
the years that quality is key to everything it does. By choosing Inca Onset for its premium flatbed, it will be able to provide unbeatable quality to the market. We are pleased to see the company take the first in the HS series.”
The X3 HS will print at up to 1,450sqm an hour, which is 50
per cent higher than previous models, and is made possible by the optimisation of the print jetting profiles and jetting frequencies. The printhead jet has a 14 picolitre drop size, providing the balance of quality and volume for the display and POS market.
With the addition of automation including the loader and robotic unload, Omnigraphics says it can maintain this sort of print speed across numerous products and “ensure accuracy within microns, allowing perfect reproductions, paneling and double sided applications”. With specialty
modes such as spot colour gloss, it can create finish contrasts within the same print, allowing a satin background, and highlighting certain areas with a gloss finish.
It has robotic on-loading and off-loading systems, with its UV shutter alignment and table skin adjustments also automated, reducing operator intervention further. The manufacturer says the high automation brings job setup time down from an average of 20 minutes to just 30 seconds. This saving in itself equates to extra capacity of one million sqm a year
Ink adhesion to a wide range of substrates, including plastics being printed at high speed, is through its self-developed new ink, Uvijet OX.
David Walton says, “By investing in the advanced technology of the Inca Onset X34 HS, Omnigraphics can go to its customers confident in the knowledge that we are able to provide the best solution possible for their display needs.” 21
Aligns with demanding workplace: pictured
with the new Onset are (l–r) Shane Hanlon, Fujifilm account manager; Craig Hudson, Fujifilm technician; Nathan
“With the new flatbed we can print on virtually anything; plastics, papers and boards, and ACM sheets. The ink adhesion is terrific, and
in high quality, we can print down
to six point type if necessary. The street furniture market will certainly benefit from the new Onset X3 HS.”
Omnigraphics went through
a thorough assessment of all the solutions on the market, before deciding on the new Inca Onset X3 HS, Walton says, and it is the first Inca machine the company has invested in. “We wanted to be open and build relationships with more manufacturers, so we started with a blank page.
“As we went through our testing and analysis, the performance of the Inca Onset X3 series stood out for us. Its speed and quality performance were what we were looking for, and the Inca engineering quality is at
the highest level – it aligns with our demanding workplace.”
The company decided on the X3 version of the Onset. “Three rows of heads gives us maximum productivity and flexibility,” Walton says.
Omnigraphics actually ordered
the previous model, but Fujifilm sales manager Shane Hanlon was supportive in upgrading to the new version if they were prepared to wait a little longer. “We really appreciated the transparency from Fujifilm and Shane Hanlon,” Walton said. “It made us confident we are dealing with a supplier of integrity. We have seen that play out in the installation and
Sable, CEO, QMS Print (Omnigraphics is part of
this group); Yuval Shapir, Fujifilm technician; and David Walton, Omnigraphics Australian operations manager.
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