Print On moves to accomodate growing wide-format op

Family business Print On has moved to larger open-plan premises to house three recently acquired wide-format machines.

The Cheshire-based printer moved three miles to the new 557sqm premises on Lawnhurst industrial park in Cheadle, which has an airy open-plan print hall.

Managing director Alex Oldfield said his company is “more than happy to lay its soul bare” with the open-plan layout, served by a boardroom, customer meeting room and large reception area. 

“We’re a tight-knit family business,” said Oldfield of his eight-staff company. “I get amazing support from my father and mother in their respective roles of marketing and financial director.”

The move was prompted by the purchase last March of a Mimaki JFX200 flatbed and two Mimaki JV300 production solvent printers from Granthams of Preston. The kit cost around £100,000.

Print On uses the machinery for banners, posters and signage boards on foam, acrylic and brushed aluminium board. The company also runs four Xerox Versant digital printers.

Oldfield said: “Some of our larger retail customers were placing their POS or other wide-format print requirements with other print providers.”

The team’s wide-format specialist Matt Peters said: “We used to be based on three floors on Cheadle High Street with an old Mimaki JV30 parked in a garage.

“We didn't have the space for more kit - every floor was jam packed - so when we decided to order the Mimaki kit we looked for new premises.”

Peters added: “I’ve previously worked with other wide-format flatbeds, which I’d always felt were perfectly adequate.

“But the more I use the Mimakis the more impressed I am with their performance – print quality and speed just blows me away.

“We hardly ever need to use the highest quality setting on the JFX200, as even in fast production mode the quality is really quite exceptional.

“I’m regularly printing 8’ x 4’ rigid boards with full ink coverage in around 20 minutes, at a highly acceptable print quality.”

Peters said the two JV300s were “real workhorses and ultra-reliable”.