Dublin-based The Printed Image has invested in an HP Scitex FB7500 Press to increase its production capacity and offer customers high-quality applications with quick turnarounds.

Established in 1990 as a marketing communications company, The Printed Image serves customers from the fast moving consumer goods industry. In order to keep up with changes in technology and to fulfill its customers' requirements for innovative applications, the company has expanded its range of services to include screen, lithographic and digital printing. It offers customers a wide range of items including point-of-sale (POS) and point-of-purchase (POP) displays, vehicle wraps, exhibition graphics and outdoor signage.

The Printed Image's latest acquisition is an HP Scitex FB7500 Press, which it operates alongside its screen and lithographic printing equipment for high-quality production runs. Since installing the printer in July, it has been running two shifts at full capacity in anticipation of the company's peak production period for the run up to Christmas.

The HP Scitex FB7500 Press is highly adaptable and can print on an extensive range of rigid and flexible sheetfed material ranging from paper to boards up to 25mm thick for media versatility comparable to screen printing. Dedicated, fast-drying HP UV curable inks deliver vibrant colours with up to two years outdoor durability with abrasion and water resistance.

Reaching speeds up to 500m2 per hour, the HP Scitex FB7500 Press is designed for fast paced production environments, such as The Printed Image, offering high productivity at resolutions of up to 1,200dpi apparent for optimum print quality.

The Printed Image's FB7500 has a range of features designed to increase productivity. It uses a three quarters automatic loading system to reduce the idle time between sheets and easy-to-access HP Scitex X2 piezoelectric printheads that can be replaced by an operator in less than 10 minutes.

"Our customers expect high-quality branded applications in increasingly tighter deadlines," said Colin Culliton, managing director, The Printed Image. "Our FB7500 has allowed us to increase throughput and to offer a fast turnaround service without compromising on print quality, even on tricky substrates like corrugated media. Jobs which previously took us two days to complete using traditional methods of production can now be printed and delivered all on the same day."

The Printed Image has used its new press to produce self-promotional items to educate its customers about the benefits of digital printing and to attract new business.

"It's early days, but we have already won business as a result of installing our HP Scitex FB7500 Press," said Culliton. "Our HP Scitex FB7500 Press has had many advantages for us, not least of all it has enabled us to provide a high degree of sophistication and add value to the applications that we offer."