The Print Show: Rapt Attention

Vehicle wrapping is alway a draw at an exhibition, sometimes just as a demonstration, sometimes as a contest to find the fastest shrink film gun wielder at the event.

The obvious levels of skill and speed of the highest order on display make for a mesmerising viewing experience, but for commercial printers not an enticing one. What is on show seems too far removed from the experience of printing traditional functional documents, say comp slips or posted invoices for a company, to have any indepth appeal to printers that are not steeped in the craft.

However, wrapping is not confined to the angular challenges of a Honda or a Nissan urban SUV. The technique is applicable to other white goods, like fridges or washers, wardrobes or kitchen doors to produce a highly effective bespoke makeover.

In charge of the vehicle wrapping diversification zone at the Print Show is Grafityp, one of the leading suppliers of printers and consumables, namely the films that are either supplied as a single colour or perhaps with a base effect. The company will be introducing a silver film and a fluorescent film at the NEC. 

“Vehicle wrapping is still an area where there are a lot of opportunities,” says Grafityp head of marketing Graham Jones. “And it can be very profitable.

“We see highly decorated vans on the road from major companies like Sky or BT, which are all wrapped in printed films. And there are plenty of individual vans for tradespeople that have been wrapped.”

There are films suited to printing using solvent or ecosolvent, latex or UV. Some will work better on some surfaces than others. There are films with different levels of tack and suited to different conditions: one might last only a year before the need to replace it, another might have several years of life.

The films are in the main derived from PVC, though Grafityp has non PVC products for wrapping in the portfolio.

“There is a skill set involved,” adds Jones. There are the different surfaces that work for different films, different levels of tack to make it easier or otherwise to reposition the films, and the importance of temperature to understand when fusing the adhesive to the body of the vehicle. All this can be learned either on the job – potentially expensive – or through attending a training course such as the one that Grafityp organises at its head office in Tamworth.

These are about to start up again after a lull during the Covid period. Numbers are limited to ensure there is adequate scope for one to one training and to ensure the message gets across. “Trainees,” says Jones, “can be complete newbies to wrapping.”

Grafityp is currently looking for a new unit near its Tamworth site which will be dedicated to wrapping and teaching customers about the process. The current facilities are under pressure of a growing stock holding for consumables and of more equipment as the business expands. A dedicated unit will lift the perceived quality of what the businesses does. It keeps a vehicle and additional car doors for students to practise on. Once completed the trainee receives a certificate to demonstrate his competence and is ready to go.