By IPM Staff
Part 2 of 2
The latest innovations in digital printing technologies widen the range of substrates supported by print engines. Several printer manufacturers offer direct-to-shape or direct-to-object printers that make the product decoration process customizable.
From novice users to professional manufacturing settings, the technology is opening up many opportunities. Part one of this two part series highlighted Lageen Tubes, a tube and cap manufacturer that produces plastic and aluminum packaging for common consumer goods, including cosmetics and toiletries as well as food and pharmaceuticals. The company decorates them with the help of digital direct-to-shape printing technology.
This article showcases other examples of direct-to-object printing on a smaller scale.
The Cup Artist
The Cup Artist is a LogoJET user based out of Coldwater, MS. The company’s main retail avenue is an Etsy shop run by Celete Powers.
With a passion for crafting, Powers generated local interest with her work in powder coating products. After attending a crafting trade show in Las Vegas, NV in 2017 she decided to up the ante on her business following a demonstration of the LogoJET UV printer.
The Cup Artist added a LogoJET UV2400 to the business. The direct-to-object printer features built-in primer, clear gloss, and white inks. It is a UV LED flatbed device with a print width of 24 inches.
“I’m not the typical print industry person,” says Powers in an interview with LogoJET. She admits when her wheels started spinning with all the home décor potential with this product, she wasn’t sure where she would take it. “We’ve done incredible things with the printer—and we’ve created such a variety. Plus, the support we get from LogoJET is incredible,” offers Powers.
The Cup Artist further expanded when Powers made the decision to purchase a small laser cutter. This proved essential during the COVID-19 crisis.
“Being able to cut acrylic and then print on it with the LogoJET printer opened up new potential to make a variety of products—like the facemask comfort clips, which we started making when the pandemic started,” she says.
The LogoJET UV2400 allows Powers and her team to act quickly in response to new trends, and push product out faster than other crafters.
All-Ways Advertising
Another LogoJET customer is All-Ways Advertising, an advertising firm that offers full-service promotional advertising and marketing. Based in Bloomfield, NJ and in business for 50 years, the company has evolved throughout the years. For example, it opened a subsidiary called All-Ways Impress when it noticed increased demand for customized products. The focus of this division is to support and handle customers’ fulfillment, printing, engraving, and sublimation needs out of a 30,000 square foot warehouse.
All-Ways got its first taste of UV printing when it acquired a trophy shop with a laser engraving machine and mechanical printers. The laser engraving machine opened up the company’s eyes to the possibilities of expanding its offerings from regular printing to laser printing and engraved color logos.
In 2015 the company decided to purchase a LogoJET direct-to-object printer, which Andrew Lieberman, VP, All-Ways Advertising and All-Ways Impress, says has completely revolutionized the business.“The LogoJET printer have helped my bottom line in that it’s a new avenue of work with a whole new set of clients. Having the LogoJET allows me to offer additional revenue stream with existing and new customers,” says Lieberman in an interview with LogoJET.
The LogoJET direct-to-object printing technology has enabled All-Ways Impress to extend its service offerings to existing customers as well as attract new business.
For example, one of its biggest projects is a partnership with an electric toothbrush manufacturer to print custom logoed dental and orthodontic brushes for practices across the country.
Today, the company offers full-service promotional advertising and marketing. Its ability to create custom products on the fly has enabled it to greatly expand its service offerings to support the growing needs of its existing and future customers.
Custom Needs
As discussed in this two-part series on direct-to-object printing, the technology reach is vast. From novice users working from a home office to advertising agencies and manufacturers, these products utilize digital inkjet technology to enable high quality, custom work from cups to toothbrushes and product tubing. IPM
Read part one of this series, Custom and Direct Tube Decoration.
Feb2021, Industrial Print Magazine