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Spandex installs Australia's first Gerber Solara ion

NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA, NOVEMBER 11TH, 2008 – Spandex, the pioneering one-stop supplier of complete and innovative solutions to the digital printing and sign making industries worldwide, has announced the first Australian installation of its recently announced Gerber Solara ion^x flatbed/roll-to-roll, wide-format, UV inkjet printing solution.

NSW Hunter Valley based, Hi-Vis Signs & Safety (HVS) took charge of the versatile Solara ion^x at the end of September, after deciding that the printer’s numerous feature-rich attributes and cost-effectiveness provided the best all-round package to enhance its wide-format digital offering.

According to Brett Watson, Hi-Vis Signs & Safety’s Managing Director, “the Gerber Solara ion^x has a very solid vacuum plate table which does not require any covering of the table when not printing on sections. Mr. Watson was also impressed that the GerberCAT™ cationic UV inks proved flexible, the Cold Fire Cure showed no effect on plastics and corflute, other printers generated significant amounts of heat when being used for long periods which caused many head crashes with plastics and other materials, we have seen none of this even when using the printer all day”.

Should they require it, the Gerber Solara ion^x can also provide HVS with additional flexibility by managing certain applications, such as vehicle graphics. HVS now have the piece of mind that, if increased production demands called for it, the Gerber Solara ion^x could handle vehicle graphics with ease.

Another key feature of the Gerber Solara ion^x is its ability to deliver high print quality at impressive speeds. As a result, Mr. Watson and his team will be able to produce print output on rigid and flexible, outdoor-durable graphics that are immediately usable.

The Solara ion^x will allow HVS to reduce its production time, which in return will increase their efficiency and save them valuable time, making it easier to deliver jobs to customers more quickly.

“We were very happy with the installation team and the quality of the installation. The Solara ion^x will now be put through it paces as we will be using it on a daily basis for a large range productions including safety signs, corporate graphics and a large range of product substrates”, Mr. Watson concludes.

HVS is no stranger to the benefits of using Gerber products, having used a great deal of the Gerber range throughout the businesses lifespan. Mr. Watson comments, “We were the second company in Australia to take delivery of the Gerber 4B in 1983, we followed that with a Gerber Sprint, add a digitizing tablet and Apple 2E, a HS15 cutter and a HS 750 cutter.

We have had continuous versions upgraded of the Gerber software Advantage, added another HS15 and Gerber Edge, we now run 3 copies of the Gerber Omega software. We have always been very happy with the Gerber products, reliability and support. We now look forward to achieving great results with our new the Solara ionx.

Hi-Vis Signs & Safety has operated since 1958, and regularly supplies over 500 customers, including private companies, councils, state and federal government departments and agencies. Starting as a specialised sign writing company, Hi-Vis has diversified into a sophisticated manufacturer and service supplier offering a full range of visual message communication styles and mediums.

HVS Group has operations in Newcastle, Sydney, and Queensland, and employs approximately 100 staff across the three regional businesses. HVS whilst not known by most people, however anyone who drives around NSW uses the HVS guidance and direction signs made for the RTA since 1985 to find their way around NSW, or anyone who has slowed down in school zones after seeing one of our flashing School Zone Signs will now know where they came from.

Anyone who uses public transport will have read our stickers both inside and outside the vehicle, those annoying speed humps blame us, follow our signs to the airport, or see our vehicle wraps on thousands of vehicles. Mr. Watson says, “It’s all in a good days work”.

• Learn more about the Gerber Solara ion^x
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