Wide-format specialist Eastward Sales of Saint John, New Brunswick installed a Vortex 4200 from The Drafting Clinic Canada on June 22, 2017. It’s now meeting tighter deadlines and offering colour services to clients who previously wouldn’t have considered them. To date, its new wide-format ‘workhorse’ has output 424,000 sq. ft. – and counting! With roots in Saint John dating back to 1946, Eastward Sales Limited (ESL) offers reprographics and copy services, as well as drafting supplies, plotters, printers, surveying equipment, paper and much more. Other services include document scanning, dry mounting and plaque mounting, laminating, canvas printing, image alteration and photo touch-up, flyer and business card design and printing, document binding, and calendar and poster printing. But its current niche focuses strongly on blueprints, technical prints and short-term signage. In those applications in particular, Eastward’s new Vortex 4200 has taken the company to an entirely new level.
High speed a priority. The high-speed 42” Vortex 4200 wide-format digital colour printer with Memjet technology has expanded the capabilities of Eastward Sales in large-format, on-demand digital colour printing with much faster turnarounds – especially for colour and B&W technical prints up to 42 inches wide by 50 feet long. The 4200 can also accommodate various inkjet papers as well as vinyl and polymer media. The printer allows entry into several applications – CAD, AEC, GIS mapping, short-run POS graphics, poster prints and many more. Compared to traditional inkjet, it prints over 20 times faster and has an attractive total cost of ownership. It operates using low power and some of the industry’s most environmentally friendly inks.
“I traveled to Mississauga, Ontario to see the machine in action at The Drafting Clinic on June 13,” said Adam Garnett, Manager at ESL. “We’ve kept an eye on the Vortex since it first appeared at printing industry tradeshows. Its production capability was what attracted us the most. The printer’s output speed and colour, combined with its low cost per copy, output width, and The Drafting Clinic Canada’s flexible self-service options, made it the right choice for us. Currently, we use it mainly for building plan (blueprint) production. Its fast speeds make it a viable substitute for our existing machines. We also do some very ‘economical’ posters and short-term signage for customers, and hope to expand this market in the future. It has allowed us to meet tighter deadlines and offer colour services for clients who previously wouldn’t have considered them. In the 124 days since it was installed, we’ve output just over 424,000 sq. ft. of print. Now, if a customer asks us first thing in the morning if we can have his blueprints ready by tomorrow, we usually tell him that they’ll be ready by noon that same day. In reality, they’ll likely be finished printing by mid-morning coffee break!”
Eastward Sales installs Vortex 4200 wide-format printer from The Drafting Clinic Canada
