The Bernard Group Sets New Standards in Visual Merchandising

When The Bernard Group (TBG) sought to upgrade its fleet of aging wide-format printers, the leading visual merchandising company had one goal: raise the bar.

TBG is a leading visual merchandising company with expertise in design and production that does substantial business with many of the world’s most prestigious retail, health, and corporate brands. These best-in-class companies rely on TBG to design and produce standout experiential environments and deliver flawless program execution.

TBG prides itself on staying on the cutting edge of technology and ensures that every product meets customer deadlines. When faced with upgrading an aging fleet of large-format printers, the team at TBG spent months of intense research across vendors and technologies. TBG chose Agfa's Jeti Tauro H3300 LED press to deliver flawless quality, maximize efficiency, and minimize environmental impact.

“Our objectives included bringing our operational costs down and building capacity for future growth,” said Buddy Kramber, TBGs vice president of operations. “We also needed to create consistencies across our press fleet with color matching, ink sets, and performance. We kept coming back to Agfa.”

Credit: The Bernard Group

Highly automated operations

TBG has been putting the new, reliable Jeti Tauro fleet through its paces. Their Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS LED presses include two master roll-to-roll systems for high-throughput, high-volume print runs; a light roll-to-roll unit for fast switchover between roll and sheet media, and a fully automated system that runs up to 174 boards an hour to achieve “print, cut, finish, out the door” projects. The Jeti Tauros deliver the unified color and quality TBG requires across all its display and signage print work.

The Tauro H3300 UHS LED printers are heavy-duty, ruggedly built workhorses that easily handle TBG’s multiple-shift operations and extreme workloads. They effortlessly produce prints up to 3.3m wide in four or six colors at speeds up to 905 sqm/hr (9,741 sqft/hr).

In place of the previous seven different print portals from various manufacturers for four different Tauro configurations, TBG has streamlined its scheduling process with the Jeti Tauro fleet.

Print Factory via Asanti wide-format workflow drives the engines which control the entire printing process. It simplifies, optimizes, and automates as many steps as possible, thus increasing productivity. Since TBG offers customers hard proofs run off its production equipment, the Jeti Tauro has simplified an important value-add client service.

Credit: The Bernard Group

Higher pigment load = lower ink use and less cost

“We didn’t believe the numbers relating to the amount of ink usage with the Jeti Tauro,” explains Kramber. “To prove it, we acquired a high-end scale and weighed the styrene from three different providers before and after printing. We witnessed 40% ink usage of what the other manufacturers output. The Jeti Tauro UHS uses 60% less ink. This is wild because we were observing a much more saturated image that appeared to have much more ink. It was astonishing to see that image quality while knowing how much less ink was actually being used.”

The Agfa ink has a higher pigment load, so less is needed to get the desired color. The Tauro printers are helping to bring the overall operational costs down at TBG. Agfa’s UV LED- curable inks deliver a wide color gamut and high color vibrancy with output resembling offset printing’s fine details and smoothness. Patented thin ink laydown, jetting algorithms, and masking technology combine to provide excellent solid color reproduction on various media.

The 7-pl droplets produce stunning images at 635 x 1200 dpi with clear rendering of shadow, highlight details, and razor-sharp texts in as small as 4-point type, both in positive and negative text. The printers also excel in smooth ramp-ups over the tonal range, with outstanding skin tone rendering.

Credit: The Bernard Group

Minimizing environmental impact

Social responsibility is at the core of TBG. The team is committed to leading the industry in minimizing the impact of its activities by carefully sourcing materials and integrating sustainable practices. The economic and ecological benefits of the Jeti Tauro UHS cemented the purchasing decision.

With a lower power consumption and GREENGUARD Gold-certified inks, the Jeti Tauro H3300 UHS systems offer a more sustainable solution.

Raising the bar

TBG is adept at making strategic moves that grow its business in the retail, health, and corporate segments. Executing complex ideas at the highest level consistently brings winning solutions to their clients. By investing in the Jeti Tauro UHS LEDs, TBG is captivating the public with compelling visual engagement and setting new standards for the industry.

Interested in learning more about how to gain efficiencies through capital investment purchases? PRINTING United Expo is THE only place the entire print industry comes together under one roof. Each community within the industry will be represented on the show floor through exhibits, education, and demos.

With more than a million square feet of equipment, technology, and trends on display, you’ll discover new products and innovations to fit your business and customer needs. Whether you’re actively in the buying cycle or exploring the latest technologies, PRINTING United Expo is THE place to diversify and grow your business.