Conclusive fact in introducing UCJV300

• A wide range of materials are supported, allowing us to respond to various kinds of work.
• It can assume jobs to be handled by the flatbed machine depending on the material.

The company launched its printing business three years ago when Mimaki Engineering's JFX200-2513, a UV flatbed inkjet printer (IJP), was introduced. Since then, a relationship with Mimaki has continued.

At that time, President Kenji Hiura knew nothing about large-format printers. So, he consulted his acquaintance about printer introduction and received advice: "When talking about a large-format printer, you must consider Mimaki." After making a comparison with other manufacturers', he after all decided to introduce a Mimaki printer by considering machine specifications and price.

The company has so far used the JFX200-2513 to print on relatively hard materials. Meanwhile, it receives more orders for thin and soft "flavor cards" of vending machines. The "flavor card", a thin film material, is used in vending machines for cup-type beverages. By introducing the UCJV300-160, the company aimed to print the cards on its own in an efficient way.
For a vending machine that uses the flavor cards, product replacement or model change occurs in a short cycle, so the order is repeated. In the case of screen printing that needs plates, you have to produce around 5,000 cards to make them worth the cost. On the other hand, the client-side request is to place an order for 1,000 cards or so. The amount of 1,000 cards was a little too much for one JFX200-2513 printer to handle it.

The UCJV300-160 was released at that time.
If this printer can handle the output, installation space and introduction cost can be reduced, when compared to addition of JFX200-2513. However, although the print material is soft, it is rather thick for UCJV300. So initially, there was a difficulty in conveyance.
With his innate curiosity, President Hiura succeeded in the output by trying some measures, including putting tables in the front and back of the machine. The small effort helped the printer to achieve the role of a flatbed machine at half price or less. Thick and frictional materials are handled by JFX200-2513.

The company also receives many requests regarding stickers and seals.
The number of ordered seals is around 100 to 200. The company enjoys a good reputation from clients, because they "cannot request a small quantity for analog printing, but it would be available for digital printing, which is relatively inexpensive."
In most case, the delivery time is about two weeks, but it would be the following day in an emergency. In such case, the plate-less UCJV300 printer is a great reassurance for the company to handle urgent jobs.

Output operation often comes with troubles, especially for a company dealing with special materials and having a heavy workload. If no solid support is received, work would be soon stacked up in such company.
Yuta Inami, section chief in the procurement department of the company, is an on-site supervisor who says on Mimaki's maintenance service: "Their service is very helpful. They respond very quickly and are kind to us." President Hiura says, "When we stumble, they promptly resolve the problem. There is also a telephone support, but their good footwork and deep understanding are really appreciated. I don't know that it's a Mimaki Magic, but we cannot leave them."

The company receives many requests from clients to switch printing from screen to UV, and those who make the switch to UV inkjet printing account for 80 percent.

Basically, acrylic material processing is often divided into multiple operations, and there is almost no company engaging in both cutting and printing. However, the most helpful approach for customers is to "ask one company to do all." This may shorten delivery time and make it easier to create products as they imagine. "Clients are making the shift from screen printing to digital printing," says Hiura.

The company often receives small-quantity orders, multi-product orders, and one-of-a-kind orders. Hiura says that this trend explains continuous shift from plate-making screen printing to plate-less digital printing.
Starting from the light guide plate and acrylic processing business, STREAM Co., Ltd has now acquired printing techniques. The company aims for more growth spurred by its two-way business deployment and customer request for the shift to inkjet.

From light guide plate development to printing business

STREAM Co., Ltd. is a new company founded in 2014.
The company excels at acrylic processing by laser, and has a patent on thin light guide plate.
While the thickness of general light guide plate is approximately 3mm to 8mm, the company's "laminated and polymerized surface light emitter" can be machined thinly to be 0.1mm in thickness.
The company not only engages in development, production and sales of the light guide plate, but also receives orders for machining of signboards, exhibition display items, store shelves, etc. This business also grows steadily due to the company's precise machining and attentiveness to customers.
As its business is expanded, the company now receives requests from clients to print on the surface of acrylic plate.