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When Graphic System Group (GSG) in New York City was looking to take its output options to a grander scale, they looked far and wide at their choices. "When we did our research, we wanted to purchase a grand-format printer that could easily fit into our location as well one that had great speed and quality. We also wanted one that was economically priced so we could get a quick turnaround in our ROI," said Ken Madsen, partner/owner at GSG. "We found all that in the HP Designjet 10000s."
GSG had already installed the HP Designjet 9000s in November 2006. "We were happy with that model, so the 10000s was a logical next step," commented Madsen. He said that they have had the 10000s in house for about five months and it has already paid for itself.
"The HP Designjet 10000s printer offers us grand-format unit with low-solvent ink durability. Its capable of producing long-lasting, high-quality signage up to 104 inches wide and printing 176 sqft/hr, the printer produces super-wide format signs, banners, billboards, wall murals, and window and vehicle graphics with striking, vivid colors in resolutions up to 720x720 dpi," said Madsen.
The printer offers high-speed printing with six heavy-duty Piezo printheads that come with 512 nozzles per head for a total of 3,072 nozzles. The 1000-ml HP 790 ink cartridges are designed to meet all of GSG's needs. "With high-capacity cartridges, downtime is reduced and productivity is maximized," said Rodger Sheehan, VP, senior accounts manager at GSG.
Sheehan added that the 10000s offers really good solvent colors. "There is no streaking or dodging that you sometimes might see in grand-format printing," he said.
Sheehan has been blown away by the unit's resolution. "I'm really impressed with the printer's resolution. This has to be the best resolution I've even seen on a solvent grand-format machine. This is critical to our success because we have so many high-end clients in the cosmetics industries that require near photo quality resolution. It gives us the option to print on a larger variety of substrates."
The printer has been running non-stop since its installation and has paid dividends by helping them with a number of recent high profile accounts such as Major League Baseball (MLB) and Warner Brothers. In mid-July they printed and installed a 20x15-foot sign for MLB to promote the 2008 All-Star game. "MLB wanted us to print and install the sign on the arches above the centerfield scoreboard at Yankee Stadium," said Sheehan. He said the work started much earlier when they first went to stadium to spec out the job in the spring. "It was very interesting to climb on the arches of the roof the outfield at Yankee Stadium and get the measurements and positioning correct. We then printed the sign on the 10000s and began the tedious installation process. The 10000s crisp high-resolution imagery makes the Yankee colors really pop," Sheehan added.
The project for Warner Brothers revolved around merchandising the toys for the latest Harry Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". For this project they helped transform a section of the famous FAO Schwartz toy store into re-creations from some of the sets in the movie.
"We had access to all the vault of Warner Brothers' materials from the Harry Potter movies, so we were able to have fun with it. We used the 10000s and output to 3M media," said Sheehan. For one part of the store they output a temporary 'brick' wall on 3M media to hide the POP set before the movie came out. "The 3M bricks actually looked like the real bricks that were in the store," he added.
"The HP Designjet 10000s has the speed and low running costs that make digital technology not only attractive today, but financially feasible. So far it's been the perfect tool for shorter print runs. Adding both the HP 9000s and 10000s to our mix now it gives us the firepower to go out and splash a major brand within two to three days…that's a compelling story. Major clients come to us with major branding campaigns that need to be out there 'tomorrow' and with these printers we can execute, print and install major campaigns for them very quickly. Our turnaround capabilities are a huge advantage for us," Madsen concluded.
author: BY BILL SCHIFFNER