Investing in new technology in the current economic climate seems a daunting prospect for most. However, due to the success of its first HP Scitex FB950 installation, German advertising agency, Lohrer Werbung, installed its second HP Scitex FB950 Printer. As a result of these HP investments, the company has increased its productivity, flexibility and ultimately its profitability.
Established in 1993, Lohrer Werbung quickly became the agency of choice for a number of high-profile blue-chip brands, creating corporate identities, marketing campaigns and collateral. Indoor and outdoor signage, show-room design and interior design are just a few of the many products and services that Lohrer Werbung has added to its portfolio.
Production of its clients' marketing materials was initially outsourced to local print service providers, but this led to a lack of control over pricing, print quality and delivery schedules. The answer, Lohrer Werbung concluded, was to invest in in-house printing solutions. As the benefits of having its print production onsite became apparent, this initially small-scale venture evolved into the 1500m2 (approximately 16,000ft2) production and office facility Lohrer Werbung operates from today.
"The design team at Lohrer Werbung would often come up with innovative and highly targeted marketing solutions and advertising campaigns that could not be produced on our existing screen-print systems," explains Thomas Lohrer, manager and owner of Lohrer Werbung. "Therefore, we decided to invest in a digital, wide format printer and the HP Scitex FB950 seemed to meet all of our requirements."
"In 2008, our production facility installed the first HP Scitex FB950 Printer in Germany and we haven't looked back since! The printer ran extremely smoothly, which is a real testament to the machine as it was a brand new product at the time. In March 2009 we installed our second HP Scitex FB950 Printer to increase our production capacity and enable us to meet growing demand. As a result, I would say that the flexibility of our offering has increased by 100 percent. We can now print onto one substrate on one machine and a different substrate on the other, or set the machines up to do different jobs at the same time."
Eradicating limits on creativity
Thomas Lohrer also believes that having the HP Scitex FB950 Printers on site has enabled his designers to be more creative with their campaign and signage ideas.
"Not only can the designers see that virtually any rigid(1) or flexible(2) material can be printed on and the print still be cost-effective, but being in the same building as the HP Scitex FB950 Printers, they can test new ideas and see the print quality first hand," Lohrer explains. "We print on glass, aluminium, acrylic, wood, textiles and a lot of other materials. Now that we print in-house, our customers can come to us with almost any idea and our team can confidently say that we can produce it. In a way, this has redefined creativity for our design team as it has allowed them to extend their imagination beyond the previous screen-print based production limitations."
The HP Scitex FB950 Printer has an industrial vacuum belt system that enables printing on warped, uneven or heavy media up to 125lb (56.7kg), making it extremely versatile. With automatic printhead height adjustment, it can also print on rigid media up to 2.5in (6.3cm) thick and produce great detail with up to 1200 x 600 optimised dpi and smooth colour transitions.
"We have a showroom with a lot of examples of signage and materials from previous marketing campaigns. Among the more unique applications are graphics on trailers, floor tiles, glass doors, and stone. When our customers look around the showroom, they are always thoroughly impressed with the intricate details captured in the image, no matter what the substrate or size of the application." Lohrer continues.
Meeting the customers' needs
Adding print to its list of services, Lohrer Werbung now provides a complete end-to-end solution, from design to production and installation.
Lohrer says, "Our goal is to provide customers with a one-stop, hassle-free solution. They may have little or no knowledge of how to produce the campaign they have in mind, and we are happy to be able to offer technical advice and make their ideas into a reality. Now that we have the two HP Scitex FB950 Printers, we can also produce cost-effective, short test runs, printing onto different substrates to experiment with what will provide the required impact."
The future
"Looking back just two years ago, I would not have guessed that we would be doing what we're doing now. I think being as flexible as possible with our product and service offering is a must for the future," explains Lohrer. "Our recent HP investments have already increased our flexibility significantly, enabling us to deliver a wider range of products and fulfil a larger amount of jobs. This will definitely have a positive impact on the success of the business for the foreseeable future. Beyond that, the possibilities are infinite."
(1) Reflective substrates are not supported
(2) Flexible media printing with an optional Roll-fed Media Supply and Take-up system
