“One of the most stressful events of our lives led to a blessing in disguise," says Nigel Cooper of Bright Star Kids. "It gave us an opportunity to not only rebuild but to improve our workflow exponentially."
Epson SureColor F6460H in use at Bright Star Kids
Nestled between the bush and the white sandy beaches of the NSW south coast, Bright Star Kids (www.brightstarkids.com.au) is an e-commerce family-owned business that designs and produces top-quality name labels and school supply products for children. Recently, the company had a requirement for a dye-sublimation printing solution and turned to Epson.
“Initially we had purchased an Epson SureColor F9460 to replace our old dye-sublimation printers,” says Bright Star Kids co-founder Nigel Cooper. “It gave us a taste of what Epson had to offer in terms of quality sublimation printing, speed and efficiency. Shortly after that a freak rainstorm event hit, our production facility was knee-deep in water and all of our machines were write-offs due to the damage.”
What initially appeared to be a disastrous event turned into a major positive for the company.
“One of the most stressful events of our lives led to a blessing in disguise,” Cooper says. “It gave us an opportunity to not only rebuild but to improve our workflow exponentially. Having heard about the new Epson SureColor F6460H dye-sublimation printer we decided to look into it, and the more we looked into it, the more we realised it was the perfect printer to replace all of our water-damaged dye-sublimation machines.
“The addition of the Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks sets the F6460H apart. It was always easy to get a great result with deep vibrant colours however, when you throw light coloured printing into the mix, most printers struggle to hit the quality needed to produce a product that sits above the rest. The more compact size of the F6460H also allowed us the opportunity to purchase multiple machines to fulfil our workflow. Another defining factor for choosing this printer over everything else is the ease of use. It really does feel like a set-and-forget machine that rarely has any issues and any issues that do arise are fixed with an easy automatic clean that clears clogged nozzles. Overall, the SureColor F6460H printers have quickly become a staple and key part of our production workflow.
Metal drink bottles printed using the Epson SureColor F6460H at Bright Star Kids
“The printers have been used constantly since the day of purchase without a single problem," says Cooper. "Their unrivalled ability to print and press light colours onto any sublimatable material you could think of is astonishing. Every other sublimation printer we have used has not been able to get the results we see from this printer in terms of pure quality and how solid the colours press. Any graininess issues we were having with light colour printing are long gone since the addition of these printers. Let’s not forget to mention that even the deeper, more vibrant colours being printed press immaculately every time, I am yet to see any other printer produce a higher quality end product than this one.
“The Epson SureColor F6460H is simply a class above all of the other dye-sublimation printers we have used. No other printer has been able to achieve such vibrant, clear and detailed prints and transfers, especially when dealing with lighter colours. On top of this, the ease of use and ability to set and forget is a major plus when you get busy and are constantly being pulled in all directions. One thing you can rely on is that this printer will get the job done for you. That said, the biggest edge this printer gives us and our customers is the ability to print and press high-quality products at a blistering pace. It doesn't matter if we are getting hundreds or thousands of orders a day. It can handle whatever we throw at it and continues to do so without any issues. In short, the quality and speed of this printer produce the ultimate in customer satisfaction every day, without fail.”
