November 1, based in Sunninghill, South Africa, has installed an HP Designjet L65500 Printer to carry out fabric and textile printing in-house and increase its competitiveness.
Established in 2004, November 1 is a branding solutions company that produces a complete range of graphics for indoor and outdoor use including fabric frames, PVC banners, billboards and pop-ups, teardrop banners and banner walls. The company creates and customises campaigns with impact for some of South Africa's big corporate companies.
In 2007, November 1 decided to take control of the printing process, turnaround times and pricing by installing a digital printing capability and produce all its jobs in-house. The company's first move was to purchase an HP Designjet 8000s Printer that enabled it to extend its offering and produce durable prints using HP's low-solvent inks. A rising demand for textile printing for the fabric frames and hanging graphics that they usually outsourced led November 1 to invest in the HP Designjet L65500 Printer in September 2009. With the installation, the company can now produce the fabric and textile graphics internally as well as differentiate its services and increase its competitive edge. The investment was done by Midcomp as reseller of HP in RSA.
"Within the next few months, our HP Designjet L65500 Printer will no doubt increase our turnover and improve the print quality while reducing the impact on the environment," said Grant Potgieter, managing director, November 1. "Since we are now doing the work in-house, this solution will also enable us to make better margins while reducing costs for our customers."
The versatility of printing a range of different media, the print speed, high quality images and low running costs and maintenance were among the criteria on which November 1 based its choice. The company was also looking for a solution that would offer customers environmentally responsible printing for their products.
The water-based HP Latex Inks provide many of the benefits of solvent-ink technology without imposing the typical environmental, health and safety considerations. Odorless prints1 produced with HP Latex Inks emit extremely low levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
No special ventilation is required to meet occupational exposure limits and there are no requirements for air discharge permitting2, facilitating an improved printing environment. In compliance with a number of industry-leading certifications including Nordic Swan and the EU Ecolabel for Printed Matter, HP Latex Inks do not produce ozone emissions during printing and contain no HAPs (hazardous air pollutants).3
"The HP Designjet L65500 Printer is a great opportunity for November 1 to expand our business and offer a wider range of applications for a variety of solutions on different media. With substrate widths up to 264 cm and the versatility of the HP Designjet L65500 Printer, we will now start targeting the backlit and billboard market, a field where we were not competitive before," concluded Potgieter.
(1) Printers using HP Latex Inks use internal heaters to dry and cure the latex polymer film. Some substrates may have inherent odor.
(2) Special ventilation is not required to meet US OSHA requirements on occupational exposure to VOCs from HP Latex Inks. Ventilation equipment installation is at the discretion of the customer—no specific HP recommendation is intended. Typically no air discharge permitting required with inks that emit extremely low levels of VOCs. Customers should consult state and local requirements and regulations.
(3) No ozone products expected based on ink composition and printing technology; HAPs per US Environmental Protection Agency Method 311.
