The big name in British display moves to automate printing and finishing workflow
Showcard revamps its commercial and organizational structure and invests in fully automated printing and cutting with the Inca Onset and Elitron Kombo TAV-R.
For Showcard, one of the U.K.’s most prominent large format printers, the last few years have been about change — in structure, technology, and production capabilities — to drive new opportunities for growth and development.
Since 2018, Showcard has invested around £3 million in largely digital high-volume printing and finishing equipment, including an Inca Onset X3 and an Elitron Kombo TAV-R 32.22. Thanks to a team of highly-skilled, passionate managers, Showcard joined forces with Branded, a network of strategic, creative, and production agencies serving brand owners and retailers.
Everything revolves around the point of sale
The retail market is populated by large historic brands and newer, smaller players. Both have in common the objective of capturing customers’ attention and influencing their purchasing decisions. Point-of-sale materials are crucial to achieving such a goal, but to date, not many printers have been able to produce those materials profitably at an industrial scale. Showcard is among them and has built its reputation as a leader in printing temporary and permanent displays, serving a clientele ranging from local companies to multinationals. Showcard’s advantage is the ability to offer each customer the optimal solution for their size, budget and needs.
While the production and assembly departments are Showcard’s backbone, the display design-and-prototyping area is its beating heart of creativity, where designers and technicians collaborate on new displays. They use CAD and graphic design software to produce a range of different plain and printed versions of each display to test for ergonomics as well as load and wear resistance.
“We develop complete display solutions from scratch,” explains Eliot Martin, Manufacturing Director and partner at Showcard. “It all starts with an intensive dialogue with customers. First, we analyze their needs, then we propose an action plan in line with their budget. This way, we can differentiate ourselves from generalist competition and manage large orders and complex projects.”
Analog and digital technologies give flexibility
Digital technologies are central to Showcard’s growth strategy; they enable customization and responsiveness to customers’ time-to-market and price sensitivities — capabilities that those familiar with the world of big brands know to be essential. But analog technologies are still highly relevant in the company.
On the latter front, the company relies on the firepower of a KBA Rapida 205 UV offset press (160x200 mm format) and a Heidelberg Speedmaster (B1 format), alongside a screen-printing line and two high-volume laminating and die-cutting units.
With regard to digital, on the other hand, the company has an Inca Onset S50 printer and a new Inca Onset X3, both configured for automatic loading and unloading of materials.
“UV offset technology allows us to receive and handle unique orders as well as print on different materials like metallic papers and plastics,” explains Martin. “We’ve also renovated our screen-printing department, so we can add special effects to offset and digital prints.” Visiting Showcard’s production departments and observing projects carried out there, it is clear that multi-materiality and special effects are a key component of its success.
Even finishing is increasingly digital
Offset-printed sheets (enhanced with screen printing, when needed) are laminated to corrugated board with two Lamina Systems automatic lines and die-cut with two traditional machines. Conversely, corrugated cardboard sheets printed with the two Inca Onsets are processed using digital cutting systems. Small quantities are cut and creased with an Esko Kongsberg system, while bigger quantities are handled with a fully automatic Elitron Kombo TAV-R cutting line. That line, which is mainly used to produce displays and boxes, works 24 hours a day thanks to its capability of loading and unloading materials directly from and to pallets.
The third Kombo TAV
Eliot Martin began his career in the printing industry 25 years ago at Lauren Displays, first as an offset prepress technician and then as production manager — thus, Martin developed expertise in screen printing and large format inkjet printing. In 2007 he joined the management team at Creo Retail Marketing, which was acquired by DS Smith in 2016. Martin joined Showcard in 2019 as Manufacturing Director.
“We have special relationships with manufacturers like Agfa, Inca and Elitron, based on the desire to innovate and improve the technology and to make it accessible and profitable — one of the values that guide us in choosing our partners,” explains Martin.
When he joined Showcard, Martin was already a fan of Elitron technology — he had been involved in two previous Kombo TAV installations — so, it’s no coincidence that the Elitron Kombo TAV-R is a star of the Showcard production department, where it’s used not only for finishing digitally printed volumes but also to die-cut pre-series of offset-printed displays.
As in Showcard’s other departments, automation is also imperative where digital cutting is concerned. Digital print operators are also trained to use cutting systems and keep them running, placing material to be cut on the Kombo TAV-R’s feeder and removing it from the machine’s stacker after completion. The Elitron system’s Airo Panel technology — the exclusive suction system that takes cut sheets and deposits them on the stacker, without the need for nicks — is one of the features that most influenced Showcard’s decision to go with Elitron.
An ultra-efficient layout for an IT-oriented company
Over the next few years, Showcard will work to meet two challenges affecting its success and growth. The first concerns business strategy and affirming a hyper-specialist business model. The second is linked to production efficiency. Operating in four separate buildings, Showcard’s work is complex, with departments including design, prepress, offset and digital printing, analog and digital die-cutting, and logistics. “We want to make our customers’ experiences extraordinary, and to do that we need the best working conditions for our team,” stresses Martin. “That’s why we’re rethinking the production workflow, developing a proprietary MIS infrastructure, and completely reorganizing the layout of the departments.”
Showcard’s priorities also include launching an online sales system to support the company’s sales force, providing customers with full traceability of commissioned work as well as functionality to manage reorders and define spending limits.
Every single technology, be it hardware or software, will play a key role in Showcard’s renewal process over the next two years. “Digital production requires less manual intervention and fewer specialist skills, to the point where one person can operate several pieces of equipment, even very different ones,” stresses Martin. “But there are still many variables that can slow down or stop production. The materials, for example, are almost never perfect. It’s essential that technology suppliers have immediate answers, equip their machines with remote control systems, and do preventive maintenance. Their research and development departments should also be continuously improving the performance of machines already in service. This is what we look for in our partners, and what we found in Elitron”.
Efficiency and eco-sustainability for a changing world
In the United Kingdom, Brexit is still creating uncertainty. Consumption is stagnant, and the retail market is facing an unknown future. As a result, orders have become more fragmented while customers are increasingly looking for special solutions and suppliers with advanced logistics departments. At the same time, the eco-sustainability of materials has become a key issue. “In the last six months, customers have been moving towards environmentally friendly materials like never before, and they are finally willing to pay more for them. Everyone feels the urgency to act, so much so that PVC is now an unwelcome guest in many stores,” concludes Martin. To deal with these trends, Showcard is developing an increasingly wide range of solutions in PP, PE, and corrugated cardboard and has started research and development projects with plastics manufacturers, paper mills and corrugated converters.
