Images_Digital_Edition_June_2019

IS BRAND PROFILE www.images-magazine.com 44 images JUNE 2019 humidity sensor inside the machine, and added software that allows the customer to know if the conditions are okay for the machine. It makes it easier for the customer to handle the machine and avoid unnecessary damage.” Customers can choose between two different types of inks and two different inks configurations. “For example, many customers when they start they want to print darks and lights, then as their business grows, they see a lot of quantity increase in white T-shirts, so they prefer to buy a second printer. In that case, they can switch one of the printers to double CMYK and make the printer print in double speed. And they can switch back at any time; other manufacturers don’t offer that. “Another significant option for customers, depending on their workflow, is that we offer either an open ink system with refillable ink cartridges, or sealed ones for one-time use. The sealed ones perform much better when you don’t use a printer every day, and require less cleaning since there is less mess, etc. If their business grows and they have to print every day and their product grows, we can switch to the refillable ink system and they save about 50% on the ink cost compared with the filled cartridges. “Our strategy as a company is to offer options, because not all customers have the same needs when they begin, or their needs may change as their business grows, so our printers can change according to their needs.” Waiting list The response so far to the TexJet Echo 2 (which has a print area of 41cm by 60cm compared to 32cm by 45cm for the Shortee 2 ) has been amazing, reports George. The company is in the unusual position of having a waiting list that they hope to clear by July – Polyprint’s usual strategy is to have stock available for next day delivery. It is, he says, a nice problem to have, and one that he puts down to the customisation options along with the three-year warranty for the system, and one-year warranty for the print heads. Also new this year is a pre-treatment machine – the prototype was shown at Fespa so that the team could let the dealers and customers feed back any remarks they have, both positive and negative. This “feedback from the real world” will then be used to further tweak the design of the product. “This, I think, is the basis of creating a successful product,” confides George. He’s already confident though that it will be a bestseller: “We have more than ten years’ experience in selling and supporting and servicing pre-treatment machines, so we have gathered all the pain points, all the problems that the customers reported for all those years, and we think that we have solved all of them.” All ideas welcome Polyprint changed its logo this year to include an infinity symbol to represent the big changes the company has undergone in the past couple of years. “We wanted to reflect that in our new logo, that something has changed in the company – we are more powerful in terms of technical abilities and in having the potential to develop and manufacture hi-tech products. We are much smaller compared to the big brands, but our small size allows us to be very flexible and very fast to respond to the needs of our customers, and we specialise in digital only. We still have the first people that started this digital project with us, they still work here. Our experience and knowledge is so big and deep and that defends us from the competition – I don’t think they will be able to reach our depth of knowledge and focus on digital.” Another aspect that makes Polyprint stand out from the crowd is the vision of Nikos and the effect it has had on George. “The idea of getting into digital printers was my father’s idea. At the time, I was studying chemistry and when my father told me, ‘Look, there will be pigment inks with binder inside for digital printing”, I told him, ‘No, Father, I am studying chemistry, it’s just impossible that these things will be able to work in a print shop.’ “He was right. He has a lot of ideas, some of them really revolutionary, and I have learnt my lesson, so now I go after every idea until has been proved right or wrong. I don’t ignore any crazy ideas.” www.polyprintdtg.com Polyprint designs, develops and manufactures its printers in-house George Benglopoulos (far left) and his father Nikos (middle) with Polyprint’s first DTG machine, the TX4260, at Fespa 2006 Our strategy as a company is to offer options