Beatus Cartons – case study

Beatus Cartons choose Roland DG to launch new Innovation Centre

Sales Director, Clive Stinchcombe explains why Roland DG has been essential in making the new Innovation Centre a success.

Family owned and run Beatus Cartons is a design and manufacture company that produces creative and versatile cartons for a range of products; from counter displays and confectionery boxes to shelf-ready packaging. Specialising in folding cartons, including customer samples and small promotion items, the Wales based business is one of the only companies in the UK to provide this type of packaging on solid board, litho laminated and plastics – all at one facility, by the same team of professionals.

Following 70 years of professional trading, Sales Director, Clive, and Managing Director, Steven Lord, presented the idea of Beatus Cartons launching an Innovation Centre, which would serve as an environment for existing and potential customers to explore packaging ideas and then bringing these to life utilising the facilities. The Innovation Centre would allow individuals to work with the company’s packaging specialists to mock-up initial concepts, before these were produced as samples.

While planning the concept for our new Innovation Centre, we quickly realised that having the ability to offer instant prototypes and samples was essential

Speaking about how the Innovation Centre came to life, Clive said: “While planning the concept for our new Innovation Centre, we quickly realised that having the ability to offer instant prototypes and samples was essential. We therefore needed to invest in a device that could produce accurate product samples quickly and easily. We searched the market for a machine with the best performance, quality and customer support and soon enough, our research established Roland DG to be the stand out option.”

In October 2015, to facilitate the impending launch of the Innovation Centre, Clive and his team purchased the Roland DG VersaUV LEC-540 UV inkjet printer/cutter from Roland DG Authorised Dealers – Revolution Digital. Printing in CMYK plus white and gloss, the LEC-540 had the ability to print colour-accurate packaging prototypes that were virtually indistinguishable from the finished product. The LEC-540 was able to create remarkably rich effects including matt and high-gloss finishes across a range of textures and patterns, including the ability to simulate UV varnish and embossing – essential for the packaging market.

The LEC-540 gave us the ability to instantly respond to a customer’s need with its integrated print, crease and cut functionality

“The LEC-540 gave us the ability to instantly respond to a customer’s need with its integrated print, crease and cut functionality, meaning we could deliver the end-to-end prototype without time-consuming manual intervention. In conjunction with our in-house graphic artist, we were able to work up an initial concept with a customer and then provide them with an accurate sample there and then. This really was essential for the success of this project; without the LEC-540 the entire ethos of the Innovation Centre would have failed,” Clive added.

Prior to investing in the Roland DG machine, Beatus Cartons had to print samples onto standard paper, which often did not truly represent the full substrate of colours the customer would eventually receive. With the ability to print realistic prototypes on virtually any substrate, the LEC-540 was the ideal solution to allow customers to proof designs that would eventually be manufactured at larger volumes. In addition to this, Clive and his team were able to proof additional finishes and coatings – which until the purchase of the Roland DG machine, had to go offsite or require a full machine proofing; helping to save both time and money.

Customers and potential customers alike are blown away by the ability to spend a few hours in the Innovation Centre working directly with our team and to leave with fully printed and cut prototypes

Clive said: “Customers and potential customers alike are blown away by the ability to spend a few hours in the Innovation Centre working directly with our team and to leave with fully printed and cut prototypes. From the customer’s perspective, these samples can then be used for marketing purposes or exhibitions without the additional costs of full manufacture. From my perspective as a Sales Director, by printing samples on the exact substrate that we can manufacture in larger volumes, the Roland DG LEC-540 enables us to showcase our services to customers to help secure new business leads.”

Since launching the Innovation Centre in 2015, Clive and has team has welcomed copious businesses through its doors. This has resulted in new business leads for Beatus Cartons and further strengthened its relationships with existing clients as they work in partnership to achieve innovative and competitive packaging solutions.

One thing is for certain, when considering future proofing requirements, Roland DG is at the top of our list

Following the success of its first year, Clive said: “We have a loyal customer base who value the service and quality we provide. First class response, high quality products and great customer service is what has been the driving force behind the company for over 75 years and we hope that the addition of the Innovation Centre will see us grow and expand even further. One thing is for certain, when considering future proofing requirements, Roland DG is at the top of our list.”

‘Guinea pig’ Roland customer still giving extra after eight years

Beams International says it ‘felt like a bit of a guinea pig’ when one of Europe’s first Roland DG VersaUV LEC-540, a wide format UV printer/cutter system, was installed at its UK HQ in 2010. But eight years on, the packaging expert is using the same VersaUV LEC to print high-quality mock-ups for Christmas 2019.

Beams International, based in Gillingham in Kent, is a specialist gifting supplier, printing branded gift packs for retailers and for alcohol and food brands. Its designs for this Christmas are in supermarkets and high-street shops now, but it works with its big-name clients months in advance to ensure eye-catching cartons are ready to hit the shelves for busy shopping periods like Christmas next year.

To meet this demand, the VersaUV LEC-540 can produce up to 170 cartons a week during the busiest periods – boosting Beams International’s turnaround speeds exponentially compared to its previous process.

Andy Cooper, Senior Artworker at Beams International, explains: “Before the Roland was installed, we’d design a carton, print it onto paper on a large format inkjet printer, and stick the paper onto the card. Now we can print directly onto the final substrate, adding spot UV, embossed and metallic effects, and more. Our VersaUV LEC also has white ink so we can print onto clear stock and labels.

All in all, our mock-ups are finished at a quality that is damn close to production quality, in around one hour

“All in all, our mock-ups are finished at a quality that is damn close to production quality, in around one hour. It had a big impact on production speeds immediately and the attraction for our clients was huge. Even now we’re one of very few businesses to offer full-colour mock-ups. The Roland lets us offer that bit extra.”

He adds: “We bought the Roland from Revolution Digital after seeing it at a trade show and felt like a bit of a guinea pig at first as we were one of the first users in Europe. But it’s ideal for what we do here – it does exactly what we need.”

A course at the Roland Academy in 2011 also helped Beams get to know the system better. Alongside the more compact VersaUV LEC-330, the Roland VersaUV LEC-540 UV printer/cutter offers a host of options on one device: CMYK and white printing; cutting and folding; varnish and embossed effects and more, on virtually any material. It’s perfect for prototype packaging, proofing and labels, as well as custom large format and speciality graphics.

“…the Silver Service package from Roland DG Care is second to none…”

On the machine’s age, Andy says ‘it’s a lot like a car’: “As long as you look after it you can expect it to carry on going. Plus the Silver Service package from Roland DG Care is second to none, and good value compared to third party services.”

Andy says he’s happy with the VersaUV LEC at present but is interested in a visit to the Roland Creative Centre in Clevedon to catch up on eight years of innovation.

Power, profit and new revenue streams with Roland DG

After discovering the infinite possibilities that the printing market offered, Stuff4 sought to grow their product range and expand into diversified markets. Identifying a business opportunity after seeing the industry grow from strength to strength, in April 2014 the business made the move into the mobile phone case manufacturing industry.

In line with the development of their business model, Stuff4 wanted a suitable machine to produce their case designs, and after trialling and testing with a number of different manufacturers products, Stuff4 was particularly impressed with Roland DG’s unique offering of high quality products with solid reliability.

Having purchased a Roland DG VersaUV LEF-20 desktop printer to increase their product capabilities and customer offering, they found that the printer was an extremely cost effective means of expanding their product range, as the profit derived from the LEF-20 had recuperated the cost of the machine within the first few weeks. Recognised for its high profitability and ability to print on a variety of objects up to 100mm in height, the ingenious printer was the perfect solution for expanding the business into this competitive market.

The business currently supplies an impressive 480 different styles of phone cases, and so the VersaUV LEF-20 enables them to complete short production runs with a cost-effective set up. Now printing 1200-1500 personalised phone cases a day on three VersaUV LEF-20 machines, which were purchased from Roland DG dealer Revolution, Stuff4 has not only expanded their product portfolio, but is now also successfully trading with businesses in Germany, France, Australia and the UK.

With the use of Roland’s advanced ECO-UV Inks available in a CMYK + White + Clear configuration, Stuff4’s phone cases are able to be easily printed with vibrant colour & gloss or matte finishes, which deliver highly accurate colour and speciality textures. To complement the growing business, the Suffolk-based company has also invested in a Roland DGEGX-600 Pro Series to offer even further diversity and appeal to the industry. With the EGX-600 Pro Series, the company can accurately engrave professional and precise etchings onto a number of desirable products.

Expanding into an unknown market can be a risk, but thanks to Roland DG that risk has paid off

Neil Emms, Director at Stuff4 said: “Expanding into an unknown market can be a risk, but thanks to Roland DG that risk has paid off. Our Roland DG machines have been invaluable to us as we have developed our business model and diversified into a new area of business”.

With all of our Roland DG machines, we were so impressed with the quality of the output the machines produced

“We have worked with other machines in the past, but with Roland DG’s products you can immediately notice the difference. With all of our Roland DG machines, we were so impressed with the quality of the output the machines produced – the colours were more vivid, and the endless variations of applications achievable were incredible. The practicality of the machines were also faultless and the flexibility of the ink means that we can print on hard plastic and silicon type materials”.

Mobile phone cases, however, are not the end of the journey for the determined business as they predict a trip to Roland DG’s very own Creative Centre in the near future will spark new ideas for alternative avenues. The Creative Centre is a vibrant studio of print, textile and 3D/engraving inspiration which acts as a demonstration suite aimed to encourage motivation and diversification through the display of a wide variety of products that can be created using Roland DG machines.

Discussing the imminent visit, Neil Emms, added, “We are yet to visit the Roland DG Creative Centre but feel strongly about making the trip to explore even more possibilities that are available with our Roland DG machines. We would be interested in discovering how our machines could be used effectively to create promotional items that will complement our current creative product range”.

At the moment we are looking to expand our capabilities by offering personalisation on all of our items

“At the moment we are looking to expand our capabilities by offering personalisation on all of our items. With the purchase of Roland DG’s EGX-600 Pro Series Engraver, this is now possible and we are hoping to have the resource in place to offer our customers this service before Christmas.”