Gerber scientific stop manufacturing machines..real or not?

[netsol]

here

Yes, really shocking for me,
Friend for me the fact of thinking that Gerber disappears is shocking, believe me, my business is 80% based on Gerber Edge, without them I would be forced to close, neither Roland, nor Summa, nor Mimaki offer me an alternative to replace Gerber and being able to satisfy my clients...it's no joke.

i am on your side on this.
1 still have an smc4, 3 edges, 2 gs 15 plotters, a spirit & an oddysey
mostly all still in use, from time to time
i am just saying i expected a change in direction, after the acquisition

 

[Gino]

I guess because the industry has really moved far beyond those machines and it just doesn't pay them to keep a handful of people happy. I never had an edge, but I had Roland's equivalent to it. I loved that machine. I had several of them. They were great. However, times change and instead of having all your eggs in one basket, ya need to branch out and move forward and learn new tricks.

Good luck.

 

[ego198]

here

i am on your side on this.
1 still have an smc4, 3 edges, 2 gs 15 plotters, a spirit & an oddysey
mostly all still in use, from time to time
i am just saying i expected a change in direction, after the acquisition

I also have several different machines from Gerber, and I am really in love with them, it is a great sadness that they are bound to stop working.....

 

[ego198]

I guess because the industry has really moved far beyond those machines and it just doesn't pay them to keep a handful of people happy. I never had an edge, but I had Roland's equivalent to it. I loved that machine. I had several of them. They were great. However, times change and instead of having all your eggs in one basket, ya need to branch out and move forward and learn new tricks.

Good luck.

Thanks. It's true that it's smart to diversify and put your eggs in different baskets... but dude, there's no other company that offers what Gerber offers, you know, opaque white, metallics, fluors, 0 maintenance etc... Tell me, where do I have to put those eggs if there is no company that offers it to me?
What gerber does, for a very small market niche, true, no one else does. They shouldn't disappear, it can't be.

 

[Gino]

Well dude, get over it and move on..... or you ain't gonna have a pot to p!ss in. Get past your emotions. Get real, dude.

 

[dreko]

Wow... sad news. Not to hijack this thread.. but could someone post a photo or PM what their 1200dpi quality CMYK printing looks like? Something photographic perhaps?
Google images doesn't bring up any examples I can find

thanks

 

[James Burke]

To help broaden everyone's perspective on this, the monument industry is probably the largest user of Gerber plotters. There have been new players in recent years, but Gerber is still the mainstay. I hate to see a good thing end.

JB

 

[SlikGRFX]

It seems to me that there will still be a demand for spares and even new machines in the future (even after the 7 years).

I know some people are saying to move on, but there really isn't a single machine that can do what a Gerber Edge does. Believe me I've explored all the options and for short run graphics, there's nothing out there. You'd have to spend 20x more and have multiple machines and floor space to achieve the same results in a much more complex process.

I'm thinking that a smaller company that doesn't answer to shareholders might be able to purchase the designs and supplier list from Gerber and continue Edge production and support.

It would be interesting to know how many active Edge users there are in the world to explore the viability of this. I might even do it myself if the numbers stack up..

 

[Fred Weiss]

It seems to me that there will still be a demand for spares and even new machines in the future (even after the 7 years).

I know some people are saying to move on, but there really isn't a single machine that can do what a Gerber Edge does. Believe me I've explored all the options and for short run graphics, there's nothing out there. You'd have to spend 20x more and have multiple machines and floor space to achieve the same results in a much more complex process.

I'm thinking that a smaller company that doesn't answer to shareholders might be able to purchase the designs and supplier list from Gerber and continue Edge production and support.

It would be interesting to know how many active Edge users there are in the world to explore the viability of this. I might even do it myself if the numbers stack up..

An educated guess for Edge printers would be in six figures.

The thing to keep in mind is that Gerber is very profitable and well established in pattern making. Sign equipment was never their main business even though they were a major player in it.

 

[SlikGRFX]

An educated guess for Edge printers would be in six figures.

The thing to keep in mind is that Gerber is very profitable and well established in pattern making. Sign equipment was never their main business even though they were a major player in it.

Interesting, thanks.

Our Edge printers have been very reliable but it would be good to know which parts are more prone to failure.
My thoughts are that print heads, circuit boards and cables are the more difficult parts to source or remanufacture, but any plastic and metal components can be 3D printed to order or machined locally.

I'm going to explore this idea and see where it leads. If anyone has any thoughts or might want to be involved, please shoot me a pm.

Thanks, Owen

 

[netsol]

i was (i guess i still am) involved in the business of selling business phone systems. AT&T,/avaya, panasonic, toshiba, etc. we installed an AT&T Merlin for a friend (my law firm) in 1982. it was end of life'd in the early 1990's

we had the same conversation you are having here, at that time. FORTY YEARS LATER there is a huge 3rd party market supporting these phone systems. i can buy whatever i need on ebay, on amazon, etc, as well as100 refurbishers.

i just have to point to the plotter doctor & zero nine (zero nine has been in business since my smc 4 was new!)
to show there will always be 3rd party support. zero nine has developed foils that gerber doesn't provide.

there may not be a new model to repace the edge fx, but you will certainly be able to buy a good "certified pre-owned" model to keep your business running.

there may not be patches to support whatever replaces windows 10/11, but your software will run in compatability mode, or on a VM

you may see the end of "edge certified " vinyl & foils, but there will still be good repacements

 

[jfiscus]

I think one of the reasons Gerber machines were always so well liked was also their downfall. Our Gerber plotters/printers here are 15+ years old, and still in use every day. With regular maintenance and care and occasional repairs they would continue to function for just as long probably. Over that same time period our large format inkjet machines have lasted on average around 4 years each before they ended their stays here due to age/mileage. Gerbers just never die, so even though we love ours, we aren't much of a repeat customer. Now, foils and vinyl - we go through TONS of that.

 

[MikePatterson]

just have to point to the plotter doctor & zero nine (zero nine has been in business since my smc 4 was new!)
to show there will always be 3rd party support. zero nine has developed foils that gerber doesn't provide.

Zero-Nine was in business long before they made printer foils. In the 70's and 80's they made BMX number plates and numbers.

 

[netsol]

yes, i guess quite a bit before my smc 4 was new!

 

[Gino]

Gerber plotters were built like sherman tanks. Have a 15" HS and a 30" HS and still using the 30" quite a bit. Stopped buying the 15" stuff years ago. Just not worth it. In fact, haven't really used the 15" set up in about 10 years.

 

[netsol]

Gerber plotters were built like sherman tanks. Have a 15" HS and a 30" HS and still using the 30" quite a bit. Stopped buying the 15" stuff years ago. Just not worth it. In fact, haven't really used the 15" set up in about 10 years.

but, if you loaded it up, it would work perfectly...

 

[Gino]

Most likely. We rewrote the sh!t to make the gerber run on other software programs where they didn't have gerber capabilities. I don't know if the 15" still has the stuff on it, anymore ?? Doesn't matter anyway.

 

[FrankW]

Gerber was let's say the last alternative and if they leave

Have you seen https://www.efi.com/de-de/products/...oll-printers/matan-thermal-transfer-printers/ ?

My last information around 2 years ago about that printers is that they are still in production upon request. They print with higher speeds in comparison to gerber, and have 6 printheads for printing six colors at once (there are videos available on youtube), will be a different price range too, but could be a possibility.

 

[ego198]

Have you seen https://www.efi.com/de-de/products/...oll-printers/matan-thermal-transfer-printers/ ?

My last information around 2 years ago about that printers is that they are still in production upon request. They print with higher speeds in comparison to gerber, and have 6 printheads for printing six colors at once (there are videos available on youtube), will be a different price range too, but could be a possibility.

thank u very much Frank, yes, ive heard of that company, although im in spain based and that brand no one knows..spandex (biggest distributor) does not carry it so very strange for us..for me, most important it would be a "desktop" system not so big or heavy, like gerber Edge are...i guess that martan are way tooo big....thats why i say Geber are so special one..no one offer what they offered....

 

[FunkotronXL]

FrankW brings up a good option for sticking to TT technology with the Spring by EFI; any of the 3rd party duracoat ribbons for the Gerber are the same color standards for the Spring.

EFI actually bought the rights to this machine from Matan a few years back. It wouldn't be too surprising for EFI to pickup the rights for Gerber TT printers and plotters. If EFI can figure out how to integrate better graphics workflow systems for the Gerber equipment that would be a big win. Always been tough teaching Composer 101 for new users