VISUAL IMPACT: MUTOH
Mutoh showed its XpertJet 1462 promotional products printer for the first time in Australia, aimed at printers who want a volume machine in the direct-to-object market.
The XpertJet 1462 will print onto objects up to 150mm high on a bed of 1420 x 700mm, printing via a moving gantry. It uses a new environmentally friendly ink US61.
Russell Cavenagh, managing director of Mutoh ANZ said, “Direct-to-object is definitely a growing market. And the main reason it's a growing market is you've got a lot of people in the print industry and the sign industry that know their customers very well. They're supplying traditional print products or traditional signage products to them. But those customers, or those businesses are looking at how to grow their revenues, and they can grow their revenue by offering a new range of services to their existing customers. So with direct-to-object they can walk into customers and so not only can we supply their signage and your print, we can supply you with promotional items as well. We know your logo colours, we know your brand, you trust us. So it's vertical marketing.”
The new printer is six times the size of the next one down in the series. It's also open sided, so you can put substrates that are bigger than the table, and that weigh up to 50 kilos on there.
Also on the stand was the XpertJet 1370, which the company describes as a business builder. The entry level printer is a lightweight machine that can print onto a range of stocks including PVC and paper based media.
Cavenagh said, “It's a lightweight machine that's designed to be put into sites that are quite difficult to get machines in because a typical 1.6 meter wide machine is going to be 200 plus kilos. If you want to get that into a basement location in the CBD it can be difficult, and generally most people are only printing 1370 wide media anyway. This is popular for people either starting out or they have space constraints.”
New legislation regarding braille signage is driving growth for print businesses, and Mutoh had the XpertJet 661 on its stand, which it markets as able to produce braille, thanks to its 2.5D print capability. Cavenagh said, “New building fit outs, commercial fit outs, they need braille signage, so it is just taking off exponentially. And it used to be done as an analogue process which is quite expensive to set up. Particularly for somebody that only needs three or four signs. Now with the XpertJet 661 it's print on demand. It meets the ATA standard, which is the American Disabilities Act.”