A case study of Sunpro Ltd., which has installed the CJV150-75, was published in the sign industry magazine “Kanbankeiei” , Vol.  34 (August 2024 issue).

The following is the published article in its original form.

Possibilities of the CJV150 that go beyond sign production, high cutting precision that backs up long-selling products.
ー The reason why it is still active in apparel applications.

Sunpro, located in Arakawa, Tokyo, has a history of over 40 years dedicated to screen printing by hand-printing. Taking advantage of the screen's suitability for mass-production of printed materials with a small number of colors, the company can handle approximately 20,000 sheets per day of one-color printing. In 2010, the company introduced full-color printing using a solvent machine and launched a new business, “transfer printing service,” utilizing the print-and-cut function. This service prints out logos and photos and attaches them to apparel and other materials using a press. The company has so far produced a wide variety of goods, including T-shirts, bags, caps, and sandals. We will now take a closer look at why the company needed the CJV150-75, a long-selling machine, and why it was introduced in October 2023.

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— Please tell us about your company's operations.

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Although we also undertake general signage-related work, our greatest strength is the careful hand-printing of each piece by craftsmen who have cultivated their skills over many years. We have also handled T-shirts on the high street, we have a particularly rich track record in the area of bags printed on various materials. We have been entrusted with many eco-friendly bags for major chains that everyone knows.

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— You have had a large format printer for over 10 years, do you also use it for sign production?

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No, we only use the large format printer in the production of original goods that are printed on heat-transfer rubber sheets and pressed. This complements screen printing, which is expensive in terms of printing plates, and allows us to meet the demand for small-lot production at low cost.Large-format printers can produce fine graphics without the need for plate-making or textile printing.

While screen printing is suitable for mass production, it is limited to about 50 lines for apparel materials, so photographs and other items cannot be reproduced without inkjet printing. And considering the fact that the cost of an A3-size plate alone is about 11,000 yen/plate, a large-format printer is indispensable for separating small-lot production.

We may be using it differently than most signage applications, but for us, it is the best way to use it.

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― I see, so you are using it for apparel applications. Then, what were the key factors that led you to choose the CJV150-75?

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It's the productivity and cutting accuracy. We used to run other companies' machines, but when we first saw the CJV150, we instantly realized how fast it was.

Also, due to the nature of our work, we are impositioning many designs on a single piece of media, so the accuracy of the cutting function is very important. In the past, there were many cases where we had to redo the process due to slight misalignment or incomplete cutting, but after switching to the CJV150, these concerns were completely eliminated. This high level of accuracy is more than we could have ever imagined.

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― What are your honest impressions after the introduction?

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The performance of the machine is, of course, highly evaluated. The ink used in the machine was decided to be 8-color ink, including orange and light black, after listening to Mimaki's proposal, and the customer's evaluation of the vivid colors was excellent. For my part, I admire Mimaki's approach of taking the user's perspective into consideration.

When we were operating other companies' machines, we experienced real problems when we couldn't even get through to call for maintenance. We could not underestimate the loss due to downtime. Even after installing the CJV150, Mimaki's sales staff visited us frequently and made minor adjustments to profile settings on our behalf, giving us a great sense of security. I was also happy that sales staff contacted the distributor to stock ink for us on the same day.

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― You seem to value Mimaki's support as well as the performance of the CJV150.

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Yes, I can say I have no complaints at all. I have found the support system to be more generous than I had heard about.

Since the introduction of the CJV150, we had become someone whom customers look up to. I am convinced that Mimaki is an indispensable partner for the future development of our company.

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