Promo Signs - Signage and Large Format Jobs
Our choice for Mutoh equipment is certainly not based on favoritism, but on objective testing and strategic choices for machines one can depend on.
Michaël Swalens and Vincent Fournil next to the ValueJet 1638 printer
Mutoh stands for robust and long-lasting equipment
Promo Signs, with its location near Brussels, has been a true ambassador of Mutoh equipment over the years. They stayed loyal to Mutoh from the first printer they owned until the multiple production machines they use today. Technical manager Michaël Swalens confirms: “Our choice for Mutoh equipment is certainly not based on favoritism, but on objective testing and strategic choices for machines one can depend on.”
Products in user story: Sign & Display Printers
Founded in 1992 by Patrick van der Rest, Promo Signs profiles itself as a graphic communication partner that offers his customers ‘one-stop-shop’ solutions and has established itself as a leader in the real estate panel market. To ensure this leadership role, the company has its own creative team that helps customers in the design and development of all possible print, signage, and large format jobs. Besides that, they have their own placement team which travels all over the Benelux. A true multifunctional team.
Digital printing opened new markets
The collaboration with Mutoh goes way back to 1995, when Promo Signs acquired two Mutoh cutter plotters. These marked an increased productivity and a significant decrease in delivery times. The next step was the acquisition of a Mutoh Albatros solvent Printer. Michaël Swalens explains: “As a pioneer in the real estate panel market, we wanted to be able to integrate photos into panels and produce non-standard formats. We had a good experience with Mutoh equipment and the printing width of 1,37m was ideally suited for what we had in mind. The Albatros opened a completely new market for us and that was just the beginning.”
Long lasting equipment
After that came a Mutoh Toucan and in 2009 the company invested in two Mutoh Osprey printers with a print width of 3,3m. Production Manager Vincent Fournil adds: “You might not believe it, but the Toucan lasted for 14 years. It was a great production machine and in 2013 we replaced it by two ValueJet 1638 printers. Our Osprey printers are also still going strong. The reason why we use these printers for such a long time, is simply because they are robust machines that are easy to maintain. All our Mutoh printers have produced thousands and thousands of meters of printed material and we have hardly had any problems with them."
Environmentally friendly and UV-resistant
Finally, Michaël Swalens tells us something about the environmental friendliness of the Mutoh equipment. “It is not always easy to make equipment choices with all the different brands and ink technologies on the market today. However, having said that, we are convinced that the Mutoh UMS (Ultra Mild Solvent) inks are still the best and most environmentally friendly solution for our needs. These inks adhere very well to any kind of substrate and UV-resistance is excellent.
Recently, we produced the largest artistic wall sticker in Europe for the IT-Tower project in Brussels. The 4000 m² print will remain at least 3 years on the building and we’re quite confident that the colors will still look good after that period.”
