The print facility is based in Brackley alongside the team’s technology centre that facilitates the design, development, manufacturing, assembly, and general operation of Championship-winning Formula One cars.
The in-house print team has been using an Epson SureColor SC-S80600 signage printer for several years to carry out most of the company’s printing requirements. It also operates Epson’s resin printer, the SureColor SC-R5000.
In addition to supporting day-to-day business requirements, over time the Epson printers have facilitated new business opportunities for the facility.
Mark Sales, graphics team leader at Mercedes AMG-Petronas Formula One, said: “Due to reduced printing demands when the race team were offsite every other week, we started to offer our services to external businesses.
“It started off with a request from a friend who owns an all-terrain driving centre in High Wycombe who asked if we could wrap one of their vehicles.
“They were over the moon with it and asked if we could wrap a car collection for an amateur race team that they were involved in, which led to more and more business opportunities.”
Around 65% of the print jobs the operation is now doing are for external customers, which Sales said had been made possible because of the SureColor SC-R5000, which is helping to bring a lot of new revenue to the business.
“We’ve found ourselves working with an ice cream company, a local football club, car collectors, and even other car racing teams. More recently we worked with a string of hospitals that asked us to refurbish doors and nurse stations with architectural vinyl wraps, another great example of print giving things a new lease of life.”
Sales said the resin device can laminate straight after printing and uses clean inks that are odourless and water-based inks.
“It’s proven itself a great machine – really robust. It’s easy to use, easy to handle different media, and it’s been really low maintenance for us.”
He added: “The Epson resin printer is now the work horse of our print operation and we put it to good use alongside the SC-S80600 for most day-to-day print requirements.
“It handles different substrates easily and gives particularly good vinyl prints. Although the Formula One race car graphics are painted rather than printed, we’ll print car graphics for specific promotions and celebrations from the business, such as the Pride Star, where Epson’s resin device lends itself well thanks to its scratch-resistant, durable prints.”
