Innovating the field of on-demand printing with homegrown systems and Mimaki printers
General manager, CEO’s office, Akira Kawada
Conclusive fact in introducing TS55-1800
- Trust in the support system
- Creation of the 10kg ink supply unit
Mimaki's services live up to your expectations
We have done business with Mimaki for over 15 years now. I remember Mimaki machines already at work when I first joined the company.
We were the first in Japan to introduce net ordered, on-demand T-shirt printing services. The general public may not recognize us by name -- “Image Magic Inc.”, but “originalprint.jp ”, our online shop for net ordered T-shirt services is quite well known.
Every day, we receive orders for T-shirts, mugs and towel prints from all over the nation. We centrally control the management of order through shipment with our exclusive production management system, administrating the production process to ship the merchandise to our customers with the shortest possible delivery time. We just can’t have the machines breaking down on us. If the goods scheduled for the day cannot be printed, we have to send tons of e-mails to our customers apologizing for the delay. It may even cost us our reputation.
In such situations, we can always rely on Mimaki to attend to the problem really fast. The sales people also follows up on problems firmly. They understand what we want. The quick response and honest attendance in times of trouble -- that is probably the biggest reason we keep using Mimaki products.
originalprint.jp
Original T-Shirts
The decisive factor in introducing TS55-1800 was the high-capacity ink supply unit
TS55-1800, 10kg ink supply unit
Currently, we are rearranging our workshop to introduce two TS55-1800s. One of them is already installed and working full-time.
The massive 10-kilogram ink supply unit became the decisive factor in introducing TS55-1800. I have been requesting Mimaki to introduce this for a while now.
Inks are really expensive when running ink-jet printers. The standard ink packages only contain 2-liters of ink, and it runs out fast in our business. We have to stop the machines when ink runs out. Exchanging ink packs mean lost time, and additional tasks for our operators.
The introduction of 10kg ink supply units improved our ink running cost surprisingly.
The down time of the machines for ink exchange was reduced, while the efficiency of our operators increased. We are doing all-night printing sessions now, without worrying about running out of ink. We were afraid to do that before.
I heard we were the first company in Kanto district to introduce the machine. Our motto is to “move before others do”. I’m hoping we can operate our production process with even higher efficiency than before.
Naturally, we have the utmost confidence in the product quality.
We supplement the four basic ink colors cyan, magenta, yellow and black with light cyan and light magenta, setting six colors on our printers. Orders from individual customers often include photographic data featuring people. This color combination develops the skin tone better and we often get favorable comments.
Installation of JV300 free of charge results in a win-win relationship with business partners
Nowadays, our clients are generally used to shopping online, and seem more sensitive to speed rather than cost. With so many online shops around, we need to consider speeding up our client attendance, responding to the demand for super short-term orders.
In this regard, we joined partnership with a clothing factory and supplied them with JV300 (sublimation transfer printer) and roll-transfer printers free of charge.
Data for the received orders are transmitted to the clothing factory via our IMAGEMAGIC cloud production management system for quick transfer output, enhancing our production process efficiency by directly sewing the output product. The new partnership reduced the 17 working days needed for uniform production to just 6 working days. This is only an intermediate step, and we are aiming to ship orders on the day they arrive in the future.
We feel the new production management arrangement benefits our partner clothing factory, us and our customers as well.
Original cushions
Original thong sandals
The next keyword for on-demand services is unmanned operation
With depopulation and work style reform becoming a social concern, businesses need to proceed with “automated/semi-automated” operation of machines, departure from “dependence on personal expertise” and “unmanned operation” of business processes. It is important for machines to be capable of perfect output regardless of who operates them.
It would be ideal if we can control the Mimaki machines on our homegrown production management system. If this can be achieved, we will see the completion of a new integrated production management system within the small-lot on-demand printing industry.
Then, both Mimaki and our company can become an even more attractive enterprise.
IMAGE MAGIC Inc.
Founded in 1995. Created the first domestic net-order T-shirt system.
Utilizing the integrated product management system developed in the course of operating the company-owned EC website “originalprint.jp”, Image Magic Inc. has grown into a solution provider innovating the on-demand printing industry.
<Introduced products>
Sublimation transfer inkjet printer : TS55-1800
Sublimation transfer press machine : Monti mod.180-T
Sublimation transfer inkjet printer : JV300 Series
<Website>
On-demand printing website “originalprint.jp” offers a minimum delivery period of current-date shipment : https://originalprint.jp/
IMAGE MAGIC Inc. Official website : https://imagemagic.jp/
User profile
- NameIMAGE MAGIC Inc.
- IndustryOn-demand print service, system solutions
- Address1-7-16 Azusawa, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
- Phone number050-5835-1793
- URLhttps://imagemagic.jp/