Epson Resin Printer: work horse of Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 print operation

The home of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team in Brackley is a state-of-the-art technology centre facilitating the design, development, manufacturing, assembly, and general operation of Championship-winning Formula One cars.

Included in this facility is an in-house print division responsible for printing marketing graphics, vehicle liveries, and general factory signage that one might expect of an internationally renowned Formula One team.

The in-house print team have been using the Epson SureColor S80600 signage printer for several years now to carry out most of the business’s printing requirements. At the start of 2021, the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team were one of the UK’s first businesses to welcome Epson’s resin printer, the SureColor ​R5000, to their printing operation.

Mark Sales, Graphics Team Leader at Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One, explains: “Epson’s resin device offered us a really nice finish with our prints. It can laminate straight after printing, and it uses clean inks that are odourless and water-based inks. It’s proven itself a great machine – really robust. It’s easy to use, easy to handle different media, and it’s been really low maintenance for us.

“The Epson resin printer is now the work horse of our print operation and we put it to good use alongside the SureColor ​S80600 for most day-to-day print requirements. It handles different substrates easily and gives particularly good vinyl prints. Although the Formula One race car graphics are painted rather than printed, we’ll print car graphics for specific promotions and celebrations from the business, such as the Pride Star, where Epson’s resin device lends itself well thanks to its scratch-resistant, durable prints.”

In addition to supporting day-to-day business requirements, over time the Epson printers have also facilitated new business opportunities for Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One.

Mark explains further: “Due to reduced printing demands when the race team were offsite every other week, we started to offer our services to external businesses. It started off with a request from a friend who owns an all-terrain driving centre in High Wycombe who asked if we could wrap one of their vehicles. They were over the moon with it and asked if we could wrap a car collection for an amateur race team that they were involved in, which led to more and more business opportunities.

“Around 65% of the print jobs we’re now doing are for external customers and this has been made possible because of the Epson SureColor R5000, which is helping to bring a lot of new revenue to the business. We’ve found ourselves working with an ice cream company, a local football club, car collectors, and even other car racing teams. More recently we worked with a string of hospitals that asked us to refurbish doors and nurse stations with architectural vinyl wraps, another great example of print giving things a new lease of life.”