New colors from Summa

[PGSigns]

Got a new color chart in the mail for my DC4 and it has three new ribbons listed and examples of each. They added metalic silver and gold and a prizmatic ribbon that looks pretty cool. I may order the metalic silver, I think it will be a good addition to the colors I keep. Now if they would just lower the price on the carts life would be good.
Jimmy

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

Additional New Spot Ribbons

PG-

We also now offer a matte silver and a matte gold ribbon. Both have a 2 year outdoor life.

Also, you should check out our new rose holographic ribbon as well.

 

[PGSigns]

Phil
Welcome to signs 101. I would like to try some of the new stuff but right now I just can not justify it. When you add a new ribbon to the collection you need a cart. The 6 oz. plastic cart is $84 and that is way out of line for what it is and prohibits folks from adding colors. To try a new ribbon or to ad a spot color is well over $300 to just get one! I would like to have much more than I do and as a suggestion all the spot colors and specialty ribbons should be offered in a 100 square foot size. There limited use makes the 350 square foot size last for in some cases years. Carts should be no more than $20 that way a spot color could be added to the machine for around $100. This makes the ability to offer more options affordable and not so highly priced that you are better off farming out the work to some one with an edge than doing it with your own machine. Just some thoughts and any help in making this machine more of an asset would be a big help.
Jimmy

 

[PHILJOHNSON]

PG-

The cassettes and ribbons are interchangable, and each ribbon doesn't require it's own cassette. That being said I know it's certainly convenient to have a separate cassette for each ribbon. Hopefully this isn't too much of a deterrant, because these new ribbon options are great, and open up a lot of new potential product ideas.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated though as we try to continue to improve our product line and available options for our customers.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance to you, or if you have any questions.

 

[AUTO-FX]

He already made a very GOOD suggestion - make the ribbons and carts cheaper. Output price is the biggest deterrant you guys face.

 

[PGSigns]

Once you start to use a ribbon you really don't want to pull it from the cart. I did that with a chrome silver ribbon and after putting it back in it does not track correctly any more and is a constant pain with it not printing 100%. What happened with that one is the ribbon relaxed on the spool and when I pulled it it shifted and has never been right since. When I pull a cart it goes in a bag to keep it clean and sits on top of the machine. Since I have and SX carts get swapped quite often and swapping ribbons would drive the risk of problems to an unacceptable level along with the time involved. I agree the do offer up areas to expand but at over $230 per ribbon it makes it hard to go after the work these machines are good at like runs of 500 to a 1000 decals that use a spot color that the ink jets don't have and are perfect for a thermal printer. When the edge guys can get a spot color for less than a $100 and we with the Summas are more than twice that you can not compete. Trust me that in the last 4 years I have had my machine I have not been able to compete with the edge on several occasions. It is hard to design or bid on work needing spot colors when the color it self is 70 % or more of the price of the total job. I know I will have lots left over for future use but how far out in the future will that be. I have a roll of the static I got for a job close to 3 years ago thinking I would be able to move it in a reasonable time frame and I still have 40 yards of it and really don't trust it now with the age of the roll. So there is another suggestion is to offer the material in 2 options like most of the other suppliers in 10 and 50 yard rolls to reduce the chances of the material going bad and also to encurage users to order the smaller rolls and work with the material to develop the design and setting up skills to offer products on these other materials like static and clear. You can do this with every other printer on the market except the summa's. So these are all things that encourage the owners of Summa's to grow there markets and also helps those on the fence about buying these machines to see that Summa is behind them in doing what they can to make the venture successful. I have a list of things I tell folks when they ask me about what I think of the machines that if you want to talk about them call me any time. I'll pm you my cell number if you want it.
Jimmy

 

[watchdaride]

What do you think summas thinking of pricing there product making there product not competitive . I think they are not going to make any more newer models and just figure they will screw the present users as long as they can . Great business plan .