Edmonton-based Cowan Imaging Group has installed Canada’s first Jeti 1224 high-definition colour (HDC) flat-to-roll (FTR) ultraviolet-curing (UV-curing) printing system from Agfa Graphics.
Founded by Bud Cowan and Muriel MacMillan in 1945, Cowan has grown over the years from a two-person shop—known for screenprinting silk ties and bronzing baby shoes—into a full digital printing and screenprinting shop with more than 100 employees today, producing decals, transit shelter posters, billboards, fleet graphics and other applications.
The company is using the new Jeti mostly for standard six-pass printing, along with some four-pass work. Both flatbed and FTR modes have been deployed for rigid and flexible substrates.
“The roll functionality is good, from our experience thus far,” says Ian Stirling, technical services manager. “We have run heavy material from a 152-mm (6-in.) supply core and taken it up on a 76-mm (3-in.) core, which is a fairly demanding application. Long pieces have been no problem at all. There is no tendency to band and the media tracking is good.”
Stirling says the machine has raised the bar for print quality above Cowan’s other systems.
“The ink laydown is so smooth, it can be overlaminated with a film, which simply couldn’t be done with the older printers,” he says. “Our lead operator says if he were to open a shop with a single printer, this would be it.”
