Kolour Krazy Wins Roland Soljet Pro III Bournemouth Printer Moves into Whole New League

Kolour Krazy Wins Roland Soljet Pro III
Bournemouth Printer Moves into Whole New League

Bournemouth, UK - For Mark Johnson, 2007 started with a real bang as his company, Bournemouth-based Kolour Krazy, was named as winner of Roland DG’s ‘Win a Pro III Printer’ competition.

The competition ran in tandem with Roland’s R-World 2006 autumn tour – its hugely successful nationwide series of road shows -- and was launched to celebrate the introduction of Roland’s latest SolJet printer technology. To win the fabulous prize – a SolJet Pro III XC-540 printer and support package worth over £27,500, entrants had to register on the Roland R-World website and then answer the following question: “What would you do with a Roland SolJet Pro III printer to make the world a brighter place?”

Roland received an unprecedented number of entries. Roland DG’s Managing Director Jerry Davies had the unenviable task of short-listing these down to just 12. These anonymous entries were then forwarded to Melony Rocque, Editor of Image Reports magazine, who had the honor of choosing a worthy winner.

“We were absolutely thrilled and surprised when we found out that we had won,” said Mark Johnson. “We had actually only recently requested information about the Pro III printer as we were in the market for upgrading our digital wide format output.”

Kolour Krazy’s winning entry was based around two projects: the first was providing much needed immediate color and display graphics to the struggling local AFC Bournemouth football club, where Kolour Krazy also has an office. The second project was to create bold display graphics and a possible sensory wall at The Hampshire-based Naomi House Children’s Hospice.

A family-run enterprise, Kolour Krazy has been in existence for nine years and has established a very good name locally. With a staff of five (four of which are family members), Kolour Krazy provides a wide range of printing and copying services from narrow to wide format. It provides a large format poster/banner printing and finishing service and specialities include lamination, encapsulation and board mounting. Since the amalgamation of Bournemouth Shirt Co. into the company, Kolour Krazy also offers all types of corporate clothing and t-shirts, printed with customized designs.

“Before we had even heard about the competition we had been looking to expand our large format capability,” says Mark. “And we had requested information about the newly launched SolJet Pro III machine. We have a Roland CAMM-1 cutter that we have had for many years and it has been excellent, so we have always felt that Roland equipment is very reliable without a doubt.”

Kolour Krazy Wins Roland Soljet Pro III Bournemouth Printer Moves into Whole New League

Winners: Mark Johnson, Paul Blackmore and Milo the dog.

After installation, whereby Kolour Krazy was given advice on how to proceed with the system, Mark also attended a course at the Roland Academy, Walsall College to learn about the latest tools and production techniques for the production of professional display graphics.

For a company that has traditionally used pigment-based Kodak technology to output interior display graphics and posters, the move into an eco-solvent machine has been smooth.

“As we’ve never had previous experience with solvent machines, we weren’t biased in any way,” says Mark. “These machines are really easy to maintain. The quality of the Eco-Sol Max inks is very good – both vibrant and robust and out-matches the quality that we are used to.”

Mark believes that by the presence of the Pro III, the company will broaden its business base hugely. “Due to the capability and versatility of this machine, we are going to expand our display and signage capacity. Printing to vinyl provides us with huge new opportunities. We’re also outputting lots of stickers, as the print and cut facility of the system is excellent.

“Traditionally we have dealt with lots of smaller companies, but now we feel we are able to take on and service the corporate side of the market more. This machine will allow us to bring in more work and offer applications that we had to outsource before.”