The Waterlooville-based-business, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, took delivery of the machine in December. It was supplied by CMYUK.
Traditionally a large-format fabric printer, producing flags, exhibition and event equipment products, the business has also always printed vinyl which it mounted onto substrates such as Foamex and Corex for a small number of clients.
“Increasingly customers were asking for more of this type of work and it was becoming more time consuming,” said sales manager Rod Sessions.
“We felt the need to go faster but also open ourselves up to more opportunities within the signage market. We are known as a flag and fabric manufacturer but felt we could easily become a signage manufacturer. We just needed the right equipment to help us do this efficiently and quickly.”
Historically signage has accounted for 5-10% of the business.
“We’ve always looked at the huge market potential of signage and thought we'd like a piece of it. It’s nothing too different from what we're doing but because of the machinery we have at the moment, our price point for this type of work isn’t competitive enough,” said Sessions.
“There was no point us doing a signage tender because with our existing kit, we’d be priced out of the market, hence the motivation to purchase the new flatbed.”
The company also has an established online presence and has recently started to look at opportunities within personalised gifting.
“We felt that with the pandemic there would be a trend towards personalised and customised gifting so we’ve positioned ourselves favourably here to meet the additional revenue streams bought about by market demand,” said Sessions.
“Again, the JFX 200-2513 EX will help us with this and we’ve got the expertise in-house to do it.”
The JFX 200-2513 EX prints on substrates up to 2.5x1.3m in a wide variety of materials up to 50mm thick including white board, transparent/coloured board, wood, cardboard, and metal.
The company also considered kit from a raft of alternative manufacturers but after identifying Mimaki as the main contender it visited the CMYUK demonstration facility in Shrewsbury and was impressed.
“We were really comfortable with the JFX 200-2513 EX but beyond that with the CMYUK levels of service and how it would respond to our demands going forward. We felt we’d get a great deal of value from CMYUK in the longer term through its support,” said Sessions.
Hampshire Flag was founded by Roy Carr. His daughter Angela Saunders is now managing director and her son Robert also works for the company, which has a turnover of £3m and employs 32 staff.
While flags will remain the company’s core business, it is preparing for reinvention and three new members of staff are set to join this year.
