Grand format ecological billboards now available also in Rome:
New Decor System bought our 5-meter printer.
"I believe that we need to build a better world. That’s why I chose to focus on ecological printing technology: water-based inks, low energy consumption, recyclable materials. That’s why I chose ATPColor OneTex 5200"
Angelo Modica
AD di New Decor System
Business problem
As New Decor System investigated sublimation printing, they found that inline direct sublimation was the most efficient and environmentally friendly as the energy consumption is much lower than with external calanders.
Solution
Their investigation resulted in finding the OneTex 5200 with inline direct sublimation. This printer fit their current portfolio of 5-meter printers as it offers a print width of 5.3 meters and fit their future focus of environmentally responsible business offerings, as the patented inline direct sublimation consumes up to 70% less energy than the combination of printer plus external calendar.
why did New Decor System choose OneTex 5200
- It is a sustainable and environmentally friendly technology.
- Compared to a traditional solution with external calender, electricity consumption is reduced by up to 70%.
- Printing on fabric is extremely easy even for operators at their first experience in the textile field.
- The intensity of the colors is very high.
- The printing resolution is high, thanks to Kyocera printheads.
- More and more stand assemblers prefer working with printed polyester: it is easier to assemble and thus saves time.
New Decor System is an established and respected wide and superwide format print company whose headquarters are just outside of Rome, Italy. Their headquarters were formerly a car dealership, housing highly engineered machines of a completely different kind.
New Decor System specializes in grand format billboards and building wraps. To achieve this large-scale printing, they currently use four 5-meter roll-to-roll printers.
Angelo Modica, CEO of New Decor System started his career in screen printing more than thirty years ago. Today as head of the company, he leads with a determined attitude and a courageous spirit. His vision is clear: The future of digital printing will require innovation and environmental sustainability. I am convinced that PVC will be increasingly replaced by more ecological materials such as polyester fabric. We are preparing ourselves for that future. We have had our UNI EN ISO 9001 certification for many years and we recently obtained the UNI EN ISO 14001 certification, which verifies that we have the systems in place to achieve minimal environmental impact in our business operations and that we are continually working to improve. Our investments reflect this commitment; we recently purchased an ATPColor DFP 2000 dye sublimation printer for direct sublimation on fabric, which offers our customers grand format prints with a very low environmental impact.
Digital printing needs to go green.
New Decor System made their purchase of the five-meter ATPColor OneTex 5200, in May 2019. It is not our first sublimation printer, explains Modica, but after our initial investment with a different manufacturer, we were not fully convinced on sublimation technology. We were doing indirect printing and sublimation with an external calender and found it to be expensive in terms of both time, footprint and material costs. We were also accustomed to the single machine workflow of UV printers, and we found the multi-step process of offline sublimation to be complicated and cumbersome. When we learned that ATPColor - right here in Italy - was offering a system with an integrated calender, we decided to investigate. They spent several months doing research, having meetings, attending demonstrations and running test prints at the ATPColor headquarters in Senago.
At first it seemed too good to be true, confesses Jacopo Modica, technical manager of New Decor System. We had been told by competitors that there would be downsides. They warned that the print quality and resolution would not be sufficient for our customers or on high-end applications such as backlit displays. They told us the machine would not offer the production speeds or reliability that we require in our demanding operation. We did all of the tests. We vetted the machine and the manufacturer. All of our research disproved the warnings. We were sold. So, after much research the Roman company decided to invest in ATPColor’s largest and most productive printer: OneTex 5200.
The challenge of sublimation technology is material management and packaging, not the printing process itself
With an investment made in May 2019, at this point the OneTex 5200 is perfectly integrated into the daily production of New Decor System. We have completed many successful projects, some
of which have involved well-known brands needing advertising for events, cinemas, airports, grand format indoor, and outdoor billboards, says Modica. The Roman printing company is a pioneer, leading the advancement and rapidly expanding demand for soft signage in italy, through guerrilla marketing initiatives aimed at raising awareness of brands for end-users.
One example is a massive 250 m2 (2,691 sqft) LED backlit in Rome. This piece boasts all the advantages that Angelo Modica defines in no uncertain terms: The only truly ecological printing technology today. The entrepreneur has fully embraced the environmentally friendly technology offered by the OneTex 5200, which uses water-based dyes and guarantees reduced energy consumption. For a printing material, Modica prefers recycled polyesters obtained from PET bottles.
We found the printing process on the DFP2000 to easy, intuitive and fluid. It’s ideal even for those who do not have previous experience of printing on fabric, which can be more complex than printing on paper or PVC, says Modica. In our fabric offerings, the challenges we face are in the finishing process. Cutting and sewing fabric requires specific skills that we had to build internally so that we could guarantee our customers the same finished quality as the rest of our production.
In recent months, the New Decor System soft signage production has grown steadily, so much so that Modica is currently contemplating doubling his investment in the near future. The only thing holding us back from buying a second OneTex 5200, is just deciding where to put it, laughs Modica. It would be our fifth 5-meter printer, we need to make some space!