The Ethap printing plant, located in Guesnain in the North of France, invested just before the confinement in equipment dedicated to large format printing. An investment that corresponds to changes in the business and customer demands," explains François Trinel, Community Manager of the printing plant.
Indeed, the printing industry has responded to a growing demand for large format printing, especially for signage. Its choice of investment went to a 160 cm wide Epson Surecolor plotter, a high-capacity 10-colour feeder with the option of printing in opaque white and tints métalliques?; a Mimaki LA-160W? laminator; a Summa S2 160 T plotter, and a CWT-1640 Premium laminating table measuring 4 metres long and 1.60 metres wide.
The new machines that arrived on March 10 required an expansion of the digital workshop. For the printing plant, these acquisitions will improve responsiveness and production times while maintaining very competitive prices. Until now, Ethap has been using a subcontractor to carry out its large-format work.
" ?En in response to rising demand and increasingly short deadlines imposed by customers, we have decided to investir?. The advantage of controlling the entire production chain is that we can deliver at a very tight flow" explains François Trinel.
The increase in activity in large format and signage was also reinforced following the coronavirus crisis and the need for companies to install specific markings related to protection measures. The company was therefore able to take advantage of the confinement to develop its activity in large format: posters, laminated signs, laminated panels, forex panels for park entrances, shop windows, etc.
Despite this growth, the printing industry, like most companies, has of course suffered a decline in activity linked to Covid-19.
"?Avec Due to the covid crisis, we lost 50% of our turnover between mid-March and the end of May. »
At the beginning of June, the printing plant's activity was slowly getting back on track with 70% of the staff having returned to work by then. The main mission of the Ethap group (Employment of Disabled Workers in Sheltered Workshops) is to find work for people weakened by a physical disability, most often as a result of an accident in life. The company, which was founded in 1988, combines the activities of printing, routing, green spaces, recycling and construction.
