A case study of kmG Auto Assist Co.,Ltd. which has installed the UCJV300-160, was published in the sign industry magazine “Kanbankeiei” , Vol. 16 (August 2021 issue).

The following is the published article in its original form.

The potential of inkjet from the end-user's perspective - A closer look at Kokusai Motorcars' true intentions in choosing the UCJV300

For more than 100 years since its establishment in 1920, Kokusai Motorcars Co., Ltd. has led the taxi, hire car, and bus industries in Japan. The company currently owns a total of 4,790 vehicles, led by 4,305 taxis (including those of business partners). In October 2020, the company spun off its internal vehicle department and established kmG Auto Assist Co.,Ltd.. The company operates businesses such as internal and external vehicle maintenance and fuel sales.

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One of the new company's businesses, and one that is of interest to the sign industry, is car wrapping.The company has established a one-stop system for the creation of ad-stickers to be put on taxis, from permit application and design to inkjet output and apply the wrapping to the taxi. The company not only wraps several thousand of its own taxis, but also responds to orders from outside the company.

At the core of this is Mimaki Engineering's UCJV300-160 printer with UV ink, which was introduced in October 2018. We interviewed Koichi Kako, a manager of the Administration Department, who was instrumental in turning car wrapping into a business. We asked him why UCJV300 Series was indispensable, why he chose Mimaki, and the possibilities of inkjet printers from the end user's perspective.

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― First of all, why did you need to install a printer?

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The taxi industry has recently been facing intensified competition to gain market share of taxi apps. For Kokusai Motorcars, we began offering Fulcul in November 2017, which allows users to call a taxi without a pickup fee by simply waving their smartphone. At the time, we were considering promotion of this app, and we thought that the best way to ensure the most accurate reach would be to put on ad-stickers on our taxis. Decorating more than 4,000 taxis via advertising agency would cost an enormous amount of money. So we decided that we should install a printer in our company and go completely in-house. We had been wanted to reduce the cost of purchasing stickers and decals, which are often displayed inside and outside the taxis, so this was a good opportunity for us.

As a result, we had been put on ad-stickers to 300 taxis, then 400, and the number of app downloads jumped nearly twofold. I could see that even the leading Web ads were incomparable in their effectiveness, and I was convinced that this would work. Since then, of all the campaign ads we have run over the past three years, car wrapping has been the most successful each time.

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― Why did you choose the UCJV300 Series?

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After talking to various printer manufacturers and gathering information, we decided that Mimaki Engineering had the best cost performance for both initial and running costs. We then proceeded to discuss whether we should use solvent or UV, and the key point was the process of outputting large quantities and laminating them. The speed of UV, which allows the process to move on to post-processing without drying time, was a big plus. In addition, the ability to print on a variety of materials was also attractive to us because of its future potential beyond the production of car wrapping.

Of course, we also place great importance on the fact that the ink is environmentally friendly. In addition to these backgrounds, the "UCJV300 Series" is easy for us amateurs to handle, has colors that are as good as those of solvents, is flexible enough to follow the curved surface of the car body, and can be used for double-sided printing, such as car window stickers.

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― What do you think after the actual operation?

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I am very satisfied with the UCJV300, and because of its high ink density, it produces a beautiful finish that is as good as solvent. The color reproducibility and subtlety of expression, such as in portraits, are beyond our expectations. However, we were concerned about silvering after lamination as an issue with UV, which inevitably makes the finish difficult to flatten. However, Mimaki proposed "Mimaki Vision Laminate," a laminating film that easily follows the unevenness of UV, and resolved quickly. At the time of 2018, there were not many outdoor postings, but the weather resistance is still perfectly safe and reliable after three years.

At first, we thought we would have a hard time operating the RIP, as it was our first time running the printer, but RasterLink6Plus was built to be easier to understand than we expected, and we realized that as long as we had experience using design software, we would be able to get used to it smoothly. Mimaki's meticulous support was also a big part of the reason we were able to handle complex 5-layer printing in less than six months. Today, we consume about two rolls of 45m media per day, and the machine is working at full capacity with more than 40 rolls on a monthly basis.

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― Please tell us about your application achievements to date and your internal structure.

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Although the COVID-19 pandemic halted some of last year's activity, we are currently putting ad-stickers on about 60% of our own taxis. Including the replacements, it amounts to over 5,000 taxis both internally and externally.

We are professionals in vehicle maintenance, so if we can secure the elongation of Mimaki's unique UV ink, we can tackle the application of car wrapping without any problems. It would be a great waste to keep this strength for in-house use. Therefore, we will actively propose “low-cost, high-quality car wrapping” to external customers by taking advantage of our one-stop service, from application for advertising permission to production and installation.

― What do you think of the inkjet's potential?

First, as we continue to produce and apply car wrapping, we strongly feel that it can be used as a substitute for painting. Since we have more than 4,000 vehicles in our fleet, it is not uncommon for us to maintain taxis that have been involved in accidents. If we could replace the paint with inkjet color-matched wrapping, we would be able to reduce costs and save energy because the weight would be reduced and fuel consumption would also be reduced.

The next step is to produce the interior design of the business office. We think it would be interesting to design with inkjet instead of simply reapplying wallpaper and other materials that have become dingy. We would like to try to create a graphic design that makes employees feel comfortable and gives them a sense of cleanliness. I am very satisfied with Mimaki's support system, and I am sure that these ideas were born because of the UCJV300 Series.

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