The Bernard Group sets new standards in visual merchandising
Delivering unified print color and quality with Agfa’s Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED inkjet printers
The Bernard Group (TBG) is a leading North American visual merchandising company with expertise in design and production that does substantial business with many of the world’s most prestigious retail, health, and corporate brands. These best-in-class companies rely on TBG to design and produce standout experiential environments and deliver flawless program execution.
TBG prides itself on staying on the cutting edge of technology and ensures that every product meets customer deadlines. When faced with upgrading an aging fleet of large-format printers, the team at TBG spent months traveling across continents to research vendors and new technologies. They chose to do business with Agfa and installed four Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS highly productive UV LED wide-format hybrid inkjet systems for rigid and flexible media.
“Our objectives included bringing our operational costs down and building capacity for future growth,” said Buddy Kramber, TBG’s vice president of operations. “We also needed to create consistencies across our press fleet with color matching, ink sets, and performance. We kept coming back to Agfa.”
The Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED uses 60% less ink. This is wild because we were observing a much more saturated image that appeared to have much more ink.
Highly automated operations
TBG has been putting the new, reliable Jeti Tauro fleet through its paces. Their Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED presses include two master roll-to-roll systems for high throughput, high volume print runs; a light roll-to-roll unit for fast switchover between roll and sheet media, and a fully automated system that runs up to 174 boards an hour to achieve “print, cut, finish, out the door” projects. The Jeti Tauros deliver the unified color and quality TBG requires across all its display and signage print work.
The Tauro H3300 UHS LED printers are heavy-duty, ruggedly built workhorses that easily handle TBG’s multiple-shift operations and extreme workloads. They effortlessly produce prints up to 3.3 m wide in four or six colors at speeds up to 905 m²/hr (9,741 ft²/hr).
In place of the previous seven different print portals from various manufacturers for four different Tauro configurations, TBG has streamlined its scheduling process with the Jeti Tauro fleet. Print Factory via Asanti wide-format workflow drives the engines which control the entire printing process. It simplifies, optimizes, and automates as many steps as possible, thus increasing productivity. Since TBG offers customers hard proofs run off its production equipment, the Jeti Tauro has simplified an important value-add client service.
It was astonishing to see that image quality while knowing how much less ink was actually being used.
Higher pigment load means lower ink use and less cost
We didn’t believe the numbers relating to the amount of ink usage with the Jeti Tauro,” explains Kramber. “To prove it, we acquired a high-end scale and weighed the styrene from three different providers before and after printing. We witnessed 40% ink usage of what the other manufacturers output. The Jeti Tauro UHS uses 60% less ink. This is wild because we were observing a much more saturated image that appeared to have much more ink. It was astonishing to see that image quality while knowing how much less ink was actually being used.”
The Agfa ink has a higher pigment load, so less is needed to get the desired color. The Tauro printers are helping to bring the overall operational costs down at TBG. Agfa’s UV LED-curable inks deliver a wide color gamut and high color vibrancy with output resembling offset printing’s fine details and smoothness. Patented thin ink laydown, jetting algorithms, and masking technology combine to provide excellent solid color reproduction on various media.
The 7-pl droplets produce stunning images at 635 x 1200 dpi with clear rendering of shadow, highlight details, and razor-sharp texts in as small as 4-point type, both in positive and negative text. The printers also excel in smooth ramp-ups over the tonal range, with outstanding skin tone rendering.
Minimizing environmental impact
Social responsibility is at the core of TBG. The team is committed to leading the industry in minimizing the impact of its activities by carefully sourcing materials and integrating sustainable practices. The economic and ecological benefits of the Jeti Tauro UHS cemented the purchasing decision. With a lower power consumption and GREENGUARD Gold-certified inks, the Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS systems offer a more sustainable solution.
We needed to create consistencies across our press fleet with color matching, ink sets, and performance. We kept coming back to Agfa.
Raising the bar
TBG is adept at making strategic moves that grow its business in the retail, health, and corporate segments. Executing complex ideas at the highest level consistently brings winning solutions to their clients. By investing in the Jeti Tauro UHS LEDs, TBG is captivating the public with compelling visual engagement and setting new standards for the industry.
Agfa’s Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED engines help keep TBG on the cutting edge of technology & ensure that every product meets customer deadlines.
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