How to make a big impact in retail with a high degree of automation and low costs; high-quality signage and point of sale applications.
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Big and automated impact in retail and point of sale
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s all about leaving that lasting impression and delivering BIG impact – whether it’s the sheet size, color, special effects or the fact that it’s personalized. And the bigger the impact, the greater the value. That’s especially true for retail and point of sale (POS) applications.
Norwegian company Sign Production knows that the retail industry demands good planning and execution of the projects. A lot of companies and people are working together on a tight timeline to deliver on time for grand openings.
In 2019 Sign Production extended their offering to the retail market. After being awarded the contract with Euro Sign to deliver all the printed interior for the COOP MEGA stores in Norway it really took off. “We won the contract in sharp competition after showing our capability by delivering a test store. It was here Canon came into the project by providing us equipment and help in establishing the test store. We had to consolidate production lines and reduce costs and at the same time offer great quality and speed”, says Thomas Fjeldberg, CEO of Sign Production.
“The way we work with our customers and Canon enables us to have a high degree of automation regardless of the complexity of the projects.”
Thomas Fjeldberg, CEO of Sign Production
Handling big print volumes with short leadtimes
With the automated end-to-end digital print technology solution offered by Canon, Sign Production expanded their line-up to be even bigger and better, enabling them to deliver more impact and more value with ease.
“The tight cooperation with our business partners, Euro Sign and COOP MEGA, is putting us in a unique position in the market. Our capability to effectively handle very complex jobs containing hundreds of different elements printed and finished on different media and best fit technology.
An automated workflow aids support to the customer center and prepress division. Reducing repetitive tasks opens up for creative work and more time to address customer issues. We can offer a high degree of automation regardless of the complexity and with relatively low cost”, concludes Thomas Fjeldberg.
“With the Arizona 6100 a project can be printed cost effectively thanks to high speed, automated maintenance and excellent color gamut.”
Thomas Fjeldberg, CEO of Sign Production
Q&A
Sign Production’s goal is to be the preferred partner in the industry reaching this goal through knowledge and high-quality standards. The company’s mission is to help its customers meet the expectations of the end user with the bold statement “we keep the promises you make”.
We were all very curious how Sign Production tries to keep up to their promise, so we went for a visit and had an extensive interview with Thomas Fjeldberg, CEO of Sign Production. Here’s the interview:
Which products do you offer? Who are your customers?
Complete range within the sign and graphic products. Our customers are sign and graphic companies only.
What makes you unique for your customers?
Sign Production operates solely with the sign industry as a partner and will never sell directly to the end user. High competence in project planning and execution. The tight cooperation with our business partners, and in this case Euro Sign and the end user COOP is putting us in a unique position in the market. Our capability to effectively handle very complex jobs containing hundreds of different elements printed and finished on different media and best fit technology. The capacity to handle big print volumes with limited delivery times on short notice.
How is your workload organized to be most efficient?
Most of the larger projects have a standardized workflow where the files are automatically collected and pushed to the rip. The use of Switch enables us to tag all elements with QR codes that can be used for identification in the production environment and even in the stores when installing and for later reorders.
What does a workflow system change your way of working and to be more efficient?
An automated workflow aids support to the customer center and prepress division. Reducing repetitive tasks opens up for creative work and more time to address customer issues.
What were your challenges before you thought of workflow optimization?
Low-cost products needing high intensity planning and execution. Demand for a high degree of knowledge in the organization regarding all processes.
How did it help you to win COOP as a customer?
COOP made us intensify our focus on delivering complex productions with high quality standards with short lead times.
What was the impact of the Arizona 6100 in that case?
The Arizona gave us the capacity and quality needed to meet COOP’s requirement. Jobs can be printed cost effectively thanks to high speed and automated maintenance, excellent color gamut, first time right on a wide variety of substrates. With the amount of different jobs we have every day, downtime is absolutely no option. We need a stable and reliable workhorse. The Arizona 6100 helps us to be time to market. Especially in retail business we have peaks to manage, in-between projects and deadlines become shorter and shorter.
Retail
What are the trends among customers regarding retail?
The retail industry demands good planning and execution of the projects. A lot of companies and people are working together on a tight timeline to deliver on time for grand openings.
How does digital print helps your business?
Digital printing is the future of our company. The competition from other low-cost markets forces us to focus on products reducing the labor cost. Effective machines and a high degree of automation helps us in this regard.
Canon Arizona 6100 series
What was the main reason to choose for the Canon Arizona 6100 series?
With the Arizona 6100 series a project can be printed cost effectively thanks to high speed, automated maintenance and excellent color gamut. It’s first time right and it has a wide variance of substrates.
What are your initial impressions of the Arizona 6100 series?
The Arizona 6100 gives us outstanding print quality. The graphics really stand out in their environment.
What about automation?
We are working together with Canon to further automate the processes of the workflow together with our MPS (planning system) and other supporting system. This allows us to directly report the status of the printed elements real time to our system.
How are the designs made?
Euro Sign and other agencies are designing the graphics. Sign Production does the preparations for production and prepress tasks. Many of our products and motives have been standardized and runs through different applications like Tilia Griffin and Enfocus Switch fully automated workflow.
How much % of your total volume do you expect to produce on the Arizona 6100 series?
We produce roughly 40% of our total volume on the two Arizona printers we have.
In summary, how has the Arizona 6100 series contributed to your overall business?
The Arizona 6100 series has become a backbone in our productions and also opened up a new and exciting market for us.
What is your experience with Canon?
The corporation with the Norwegian Canon division has been a key for Sign Production in many years. When we meet challenges in the market, we always feel that Canon meet our needs and are willing to go the extra mile with us to achieve our goals.
Find out more about the Arizona series here.
Published 07th Jul 2022
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