UK printer Funky Labels is benefitting from faster printing and drying speeds after upgrading its Roland TrueVIS VG-540 to the new TR2 inks.
The TR2 inkset includes CMYK, light cyan, light magenta and light black, allowing print professionals to colour match accurate corporate logos and produce realistic, vibrant shades. The inks dry ‘very quickly’, according to Roland DG, with prints ready to laminate and then immediately finish in just six hours. They are supported by the 3M MCS Warranty and Avery Dennison ICS Performance Guarantee, and won the SGIA 2019 Product of the Year award in the ‘Digital Inks – Solvent/Eco-Solvent/Latex’ category.
Founded four years ago, Funky Labels prints personalised, stick-on, washable, and iron-on labels. It prints and cuts lots of small graphics pieces. For this, Funky Labels currently operates a Roland VersaUV LEF-300 UV printer, a Roland TrueVIS SG-300 printer-cutter, and two Roland TrueVIS VG-540 printer-cutters.
Funky Labels director Caroline Gascoyne noted, ‘Colours are more vibrant and prints dry quicker,’ adding, ‘The machine itself is faster and doesn’t require as much automated or manual cleaning, reducing downtime. We also haven’t had to change any ICC profiles or perform colour matching.’
The upgrade was completed by a DFIY conversion of the printer, which Ms Gascoyne described as, ‘
‘We downloaded the instructions provided by Roland and followed them meticulously – the guide is brilliantly researched and written, talking you through what you need to do when. We had no problems whatsoever and were up and running in a couple of hours.’
Rob Goleniowski, head of sales for the UK and Ireland at Roland, said, ‘With so many VGs and SGs in the field, we decided it to give our customers the chance to experience the benefits of the enhanced TR2 ink. Of course, when updating a business-critical piece of hardware, there’s no room for error, which is why we’ve worked to develop an intuitive and easy-to-follow conversion process.’
The conversion has also included a firmware update that lets VG and SG users take full advantage of VersaWorks 6’s advanced features
‘The TrueVIS now scans before every job,’ explained Ms Gascoyne. ‘As we nest a lot of small jobs together, this reduces wasted materials.’
She concluded, ‘My advice for anyone considering the TR2 conversion is to ‘follow the instructions’ – it’s as simple as that. We’ve seen the benefits and plan to upgrade our TrueVIS SG-300 soon as well.’
