King Printing breaks boundaries with the Colorado M-series: redefining speed, quality, and versatility in large-format printing.
King Printing Corporation was founded in 1917 as a workshop for pictorial signs such as movie billboards, and has been providing value to the printing industry for more than a century. During that time, the company has always been a pioneer in large-format printing, developing the first large-format printing press in Japan, starting a large-format inkjet printing business, and expanding the possibilities of new visual communication.
The company had several major chain clients with more than 500 shops in Japan and was satisfying the clients’ requirements with more than a dozen solvent printers for the decoration of their shops nationwide. As they gained the trust of their clients and their printing volumes increased further, they were challenged to manage deadlines with their existing production facilities, such as drying time for printed materials and color matching for multiple printers, and they also had problems recruiting operators.
Recognizing the need for change and looking for ways to increase productivity while maintaining quality, President Yuki Mitsuhiro met the Colorado M-series with UVgel technology at the Canon stand at drupa 2024. They proceeded to confirm: the print quality of the Colorado on Japanese media, the integrated cutting flow with Zünd and the reduced operator time when working with UVgel inks were also appreciated, leading to the installation of three Colorado M5 and one Colorado M5W.
The high productivity of the Colorado M-series, which also produces stable quality, is being used immediately at King Printing, including operation in gloss high quality mode at 40 m²/h, seamless transition to post-processing with no drying time required, and automatic maintenance to support operators. In the first six months after installation, the print volume has already exceeded well over 60,000 m²!
“I am surprised that the versatility of the media support is higher than expected due to the thin thickness of the ink. We can print with the textured structure of the media, so we take advantage of this Colorado feature.“
“I was surprised at the specific UVgel ink! Although it is a four-color ink, it has a wide color gamut and can be used for poster quality for apparel clients. Also, the ink is odorless and has improved the working environment.“
The high quality printing and quick turnaround time achieved by the Colorado M-series has led to an expansion of King Printing‘s jobs from existing clients and the acquisition of new clients. To meet these further growing expectations, King Printing has decided to install 2 more units of the Colorado M-Series, now that bringing the total number of Colorado M-series to 6 units within less than a year.
The Colorado M-series will contribute to King Printing, which continues to evolve with its technological capabilities and application offering built up over more than 100 years, as a tool to break the limits.