CACTUS HOSTS FESPA OPEN HOUSE

Cactus Imaging hosted a Fespa Australia Open House at its Silverwater facility, with the pioneering company throwing open its doors to the industry to see the production powerhouse.

Some 100 printers, suppliers and trade media made the trip to Cactus, including several interstate visitors. They were treated to a viewing of Cactus in action, with its quartet of five-metre wide Fujifilm printers, a pair of Durst printers, several Fotoba finishers, and several other finishing units.

Printers were welcomed by co-directors Nigel Spicer and Keith Ferrel to a three-hour open house, with refreshments provided. Ferrel said, “All are welcome, there is nothing in here we’re hiding, nothing you can’t buy off the shelf.

“This industry has so much to offer, as a communication channel, display print offers unrivalled cut-through, we all need to be promoting it as much as possible.”

Cactus Imaging is one of Australia’s largest display graphics businesses. It is also an innovator, it has developed its own award-winning recyclable banner and billboard material SmartSkin, and is in regular contact with the R&D centres of its major machinery suppliers.

It has been pursuing a path of automation. It now has 40 staff, half the number of a decade ago – none have been made redundant, rather leaving by natural attrition – but pumps out five times the work.

Printers at the Open House were able to see the automated eyeletting and welding machine for banners, Ferral said, “it used to take two staff two and a half hours to eyelet a 50-metre roll of mesh, now the machine takes 12 minutes.”