SAM Cases, a Bristol-based manufacturer of bespoke flight, transportation and protective cases has brought its product printing and personalisation in house with Roland DG UV-curing printers, improving durability, cutting labour costs and speeding turnaround.
Established in 1995, SAM Cases supplies clients that include BAE Systems, CX Auto Group, ITV, the NHS, Smith Myers Communications, Starlink and Qinetiq. As the company has grown, it has expanded its printing capabilities and now provides digital vinyl printing, flatbed UV printing, screen printing, in-mould labelling, and vinyl case wrapping. Printers from Roland DG have played an increasing role in this over the last two years, specifically the VersaUV LEC2 S-series flatbed and the VersaUV LEC2-640 for roll-fed vinyls.
SAM Cases’ managing director Mathew Addy explained, ‘As an established and expanding business, we wanted to move all our printing in-house, and who better to do it with than Roland DG? The Roland DG machines, especially the S-Series, enable faster turnarounds due to UV technology, allow us to print above the standard CMYK colour gamut, and print onto virtually any surface, giving us the ability to create totally bespoke packaging.’
Roland’s Eco-UV 5 inks dry immediately under low-temperature LED lamps, yielding more robust graphics than alternative technologies, while the flatbed printing provides a quick and easy way to add corporate branding or personalisation to any case.
‘Roland DG’s state-of-the-art UV printing technology has not only revolutionised the way that our cases look, but also made the graphics printed onto the cases more robust. The UV prints last longer than alternative methods and mean that our customers hardly have to come back to us due to colour fading or damage,’ noted Mr Addy.
The LEC2 roll-to-roll UV printer isw fitted with Roland’s take-up system, which rewinds printed material automatically, helping to manage unmanned production. This has allowed SAM Cases to save on labour whilst running longer monitored runs.
