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Chris Underwood, co-owner of Oregon Blue Print Co. likes to keep things all the in the family. Underwood and his brother Scott are another third generation family-owned business successfully bucking the trend. The Portland, OR-based print shop first opened its doors in 1945.
"My grandparents opened the business 62 years ago; a lot has changed since then. Since that time we've witnessed a host of technology changes in the industry as well as in the type of work we do. Today it's all about being a one-stop shop," says Chris Underwood. When the Underwood Brothers took the helm in the 90s, the company moved into digital and today is a full service output provider. Although the company is still called Oregon Blue Print Co., it has spun off a division called OBP Digital which is the digital color arm of the company. "We still use the original name but OBP Digital better reflects the scale of work we produce today," explains Underwood.
When it came time to purchase a new wide-format printer, Underwood also wanted to keep things in the EFI VUTEk family. "We've been working with EFI VUTEk for a number of years. We have an EFI VUTEk 5330 and 200/600 in house already and were looking to increase our production capabilities by adding another machine. Originally, we were going to buy a 3360 from them when they asked us if we would like to beta test their new QS3200r roll-to-roll UV machine. It made perfect sense for us. It's a high quality printer, it's VOC free, it prints to cloth better than most solvent printers and it fit our mission of going green. One of our biggest goals is sustainability. We want our equipment to be as green as possible offering the smallest carbon footprint we can," he says.
The unit was installed in December and has been running issue-free since then, Underwood reports. "I wasn't able to attend SGIA '07 so the first time I saw it actually running was in my shop. I pretty much bought the printer sight unseen and it all worked out. I've been very happy with the results. The print quality QS3200r offers is the big jump for us. The 520 dpi print head we've been utilizing has made our quality go way up. We are also doubling production by having another machine. It's been an extremely wise investment for us."
The QS3200r incorporates VUTEk's High Definition Print (HDP) technology combines 8-color printing, high 1080 dpi image output, VUTEk Smoothing, a quality optimized bi-directional printing mode, with the power of the EFI Fiery XF RIP. The QS3200r is said to merge the exceptional image quality of UV and the high speed achievable in a roll-to-roll format. In addition, the QS3200r is said to produce sharp high quality images in an 8-color mode at speeds exceeding 900 square feet per hour.
"The HDP Technology offers smoother gradations and higher quality output. It came in handy for recent job we ran for a shoe company. The client raved about the quality. It's great with printing product photos. We also used the QS3200r for a couple bus wraps for the Dallas Mavericks."
Underwood's clients like the green printing aspect as well. "Our customers like the fact we are printing their jobs on green products. Currently, we are printing on Ultraflex Bioflex banner material as well as biodegradable styrene. "
He reports that QS3200r is ideal for the print service provider who wishes to move from roll-to-roll solvent printing to UV, or to add a high productivity UV roll-to-roll solution to their mix. "This printer has allowed us to do exactly everything that we wanted to do. Reduce turnaround times by doubling our production and offer higher quality green products for our clients."
author: BY BILL SCHIFFNER