Wizardz Design and Print chooses SureColor

Wizardz Design & Print is well established as a print shop of choice for Cape Town customers who require large format printed collateral. The company had an existing large format printer, that had served it well for many years, but it was unable to accept diverse types of media, or to keep pace with the tightening delivery demands made by the company’s customers.

Turnaround times for large format projects were relatively slow, due to the speed of throughput, and the time it took for ink to dry. Customers were becoming frustrated at having to wait for their projects, and Wizardz identified the risk of losing customers and turnover volume if it continued with this printer as its primary large format device.

Wizardz owner, Andrew Pittaway, approached John Panton of local Digital Distributors, to suggest a cost effective, efficient large format printing solution that would meet the company’s growing needs.

Digital Distributors presented two options to the Wizardz team, but the Epson SureColor SC-S30610 quickly became the forerunner when comparisons were drawn between the two printers.

Topping the list of favourable features that were most appealing to the Wizardz team were the exceptional print quality, low cost of ownership, wide range of print media, print speed, and the fact that it the printer is kind to the environment too. 

The 64 inch SureColor can produce posters, signs, banners, backlit panels and POS collateral, as well as vehicle wraps, interior decorations and exhibition displays.

It can print images on vinyl, canvas, clear film, photographic paper and a range of popular banner substrates at a speed of up to 29.4m2 per hour, depending on the mode chosen. 

“Margins are tight in our business, so we keep a close eye on costs, and this printer will save us money in the long term,” Andrew Pittaway, the owner of Wizardz, said.

“We also live and work in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, so it was important for us to consider the potential environmental impact of the device that we chose,” he adds. “Epson’s inks don’t contain any volatile organic compounds, which make them friendly to both the environment and to our staff – our operators don’t have to suffer through any fumes during the printing process.

Many of Wizardz customers are interior designers and decorators who use the company to print wall papers and other decor items, and it is also important to them that final printed products do not emit unpleasant or toxic odours.

Pittaway adds that the SureColor SC-S30610 has particularly low energy consumption when compared to other printers in its range, an appealing factor given the high cost of electricity in South Africa. 

In the trials conducted by Wizardz ahead of their decision to purchase the SureColor, the Wizardz team noticed that it handled reversed out text better than its competitor, and that Epson’s inks dried more quickly too. It became clear, quickly, that they could now offer their customers a quick turnaround on complex jobs, giving the company an advantage over its competitors.

“The inks are also more cost-competitive than the inks we’ve used before, and we’ve been able to pass our cost savings on to our customers, who are now smiling almost as much as we are!” adds Pittaway.

Another particularly appealing feature of the SureColor SC-S30610 was the fact that the printer requires very little maintenance, with the Wizardz team able to change media and perform any cleaning themselves.

The SureColor SC-S30610 has a built-in jack at the rear, and it is also easy to control media tensioning from the front or back of the printer, which means that  Wizardz’ team can spend more time focusing on delivering print jobs, and less time fiddling with hardware in preparing for print jobs.

Digital Distributors also supplied the profiling software required to achieve the best possible results from the printer.

“I’m comfortable to represent the Epson brand because in my years of experience, its devices have a much lower failure rate than any other printers on the market,” says John Panton, from Digital Distributors.

“It costs very little to repair and maintain them, and my customers are getting great performance from Epson printers after five years and beyond – an exceptional result in a sector that sees technology changing frequently.”

“Our customers have been impressed by the high quality print resolution, regardless of the media that is processed through the SureColor,” says Pittaway. “More customers are choosing Wizardz now, because we can offer exceptional print quality, quickly and efficiently. The SC-S30610 will certainly help us achieve our business growth objectives.”

The SureColor SC-S30610 is part of Epson’s range of large format printers, which also includes the SureColor SC-S50610 and the SC-S70610.