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SGIA 2012 and CET

B

benjakes

New Member
lol

Colorado Signs,

I would hope that that is not the printer being sold in the US.

If it is, it would be up for 1 days and down for 6 each week I bet.

In the chinese market, the expectations are much different as far as service (no warranty) and support, as well as quality of componants. I would hope that Flora would make the neccasary improvements for US models.

I visited CET Color in Atlanta and watched all of mine getting built. When you buy your Flora, I would go to california and watch it being built or upgraded. If they dont do that, I would ask specifically what is different between the 35k model and the one you are buying. If not, LOL.

Like a lot of people on here, I am a friend of CET Color.

They have done me right. The new model is oustanding, but knowing that they make the product and stand behind it is most important. They allowed me to double my revenue.

PM me for the details.
 
HulkSmash

HulkSmash

New Member
benjakes said:
Colorado Signs,

I would hope that that is not the printer being sold in the US.

If it is, it would be up for 1 days and down for 6 each week I bet.

In the chinese market, the expectations are much different as far as service (no warranty) and support, as well as quality of componants. I would hope that Flora would make the neccasary improvements for US models.

I visited CET Color in Atlanta and watched all of mine getting built. When you buy your Flora, I would go to california and watch it being built or upgraded. If they dont do that, I would ask specifically what is different between the 35k model and the one you are buying. If not, LOL.

Like a lot of people on here, I am a friend of CET Color.

They have done me right. The new model is oustanding, but knowing that they make the product and stand behind it is most important. They allowed me to double my revenue.

PM me for the details.
Click to expand...

trust me, i understand

jack and marty are teh 2 ive talked to, and they are stand up guys.
the fact they let me go to their facility for free, and learn how to repair, and troubleshoot myself.. is just great
 
10sacer

10sacer

New Member
Well, lets see here...

I haven't been on Signs 101 for over 2 months because we moved into our new building and it is now full of Epsons (I now have the S70, the S30 and the new S50 is sitting in a box as we speak).

I also have the new CET 1000 with 2 rows of Ricoh heads. Sold my original CET to somebody we all know and if he ever gets it out of storage he will be more of a flatbed guru.

We are upgrading to the new Q-series with 20 heads in it for super-duper speed with the same quality we need.

I have a long history with Flora from my DuPont days and they are fighting the same battle that other 2nd tier manufacturers are facing - market branding and brand awareness. The Jetrix is a great machine, but they never really caught hold in the states and i don't know what they are up to now.

Flora needs marketing in the worst way to sell on differentiation in the marketplace. Remember that at the end of the day the cheapest UV machine does exactly what the most expensive UV machine does - so how do these manufacturers differentiate themselves? Its hard. Its not like buying a car where you can buy one over the other one simply because it looks nicer. These are business-changing decisions that need to be right the first time for most of us. Ask Mike at Merritt how he feels about most of his HP stuff.
CET has passed FLORA by in terms of machine reputation and service organization as well as being one of the easiest manufacturers ever to work with. Thats not to say that FLORA can't catch up. CET got very lucky with some key manufacturers either disappearing from the game or getting absorbed at the best time possible for them and kudos to them for great timing when entering the market. Flora needs some of that goodwill to come their way. They just need a handful of good, quality success stories to help with marketing and they will be on their way.

Remember, all these machines fall into different market segments and in this ballpark with Flora, CET, Oce and lower end HP and Vuteks (Rastek) - CET is by far the clear winner in all categories. Not to say that each doesn't have an audience with INDIVIDUAL buyers - alot depends on your budget, your workload and your quality expectations which means there is a machine out there from somebody that will work for everyone.

Just my two cents,

Sean
 
Nicky Zhou

Nicky Zhou

PrintLinks
benjakes said:
I own a konica head and spectra head CET. The software and smoothing is much better on the X-Press 500 (spectra) than the konica. You will be ver pleased. It is also 3 times faster than the konica, and you do not have as many head drop outs.

Nicky, you are in the chinese market selling Flora printers for 35k. It is much different here.

Do you remember me, we met when you worked for Flora. I am in NY.
Click to expand...

Did we met in New Orleans?

Actually, we are not selling Flora, but AOJET instead to all over to world. For Chinese market, we sell Arizona Oce printers. So there is no more 35K available now. :thumb:

The CET driver is really great one, as the software engineer is one of the best. He have been working in USA as well.
 
Nicky Zhou

Nicky Zhou

PrintLinks
10sacer said:
Well, lets see here...

I haven't been on Signs 101 for over 2 months because we moved into our new building and it is now full of Epsons (I now have the S70, the S30 and the new S50 is sitting in a box as we speak).

I also have the new CET 1000 with 2 rows of Ricoh heads. Sold my original CET to somebody we all know and if he ever gets it out of storage he will be more of a flatbed guru.

We are upgrading to the new Q-series with 20 heads in it for super-duper speed with the same quality we need.

I have a long history with Flora from my DuPont days and they are fighting the same battle that other 2nd tier manufacturers are facing - market branding and brand awareness. The Jetrix is a great machine, but they never really caught hold in the states and i don't know what they are up to now.

Flora needs marketing in the worst way to sell on differentiation in the marketplace. Remember that at the end of the day the cheapest UV machine does exactly what the most expensive UV machine does - so how do these manufacturers differentiate themselves? Its hard. Its not like buying a car where you can buy one over the other one simply because it looks nicer. These are business-changing decisions that need to be right the first time for most of us. Ask Mike at Merritt how he feels about most of his HP stuff.
CET has passed FLORA by in terms of machine reputation and service organization as well as being one of the easiest manufacturers ever to work with. Thats not to say that FLORA can't catch up. CET got very lucky with some key manufacturers either disappearing from the game or getting absorbed at the best time possible for them and kudos to them for great timing when entering the market. Flora needs some of that goodwill to come their way. They just need a handful of good, quality success stories to help with marketing and they will be on their way.

Remember, all these machines fall into different market segments and in this ballpark with Flora, CET, Oce and lower end HP and Vuteks (Rastek) - CET is by far the clear winner in all categories. Not to say that each doesn't have an audience with INDIVIDUAL buyers - alot depends on your budget, your workload and your quality expectations which means there is a machine out there from somebody that will work for everyone.

Just my two cents,

Sean
Click to expand...

:goodpost:

Manufacturers just need right persons to do the right things and insist on it. Get the feedback from customers and improve accordingly, full support. Not only the selling price. It is how much you paid in total, and how much you get finally.
Flora done some improvement, may need to pay more attention. There are over 300 units AOJET UV printer in the market, not only products itself, customer care more about the service, and the application solutions to help them increase the profits.
 
Signartetc1314

Signartetc1314

New Member
Ditto...we just cut the deposit check to purchase the CET X-Press 500 this week. I figure if we can keep that HP 45500 running all these years, that the CET machine will be a piece of cake and a big step forward in terms of capability.

-Doug/signartetc1314
 
10sacer

10sacer

New Member
We are upgrading...again... to a 20 head CET Express 1000 this month.
You should see the print swath on this printer - its about 2" per pass.
 
W

WinGraphics

Premium Subscriber
Why are you changing from the Ricoh heads? I am considering the purchase of a CET machine but i am unsure which configuration is best for the signage market. The Spectra heads are blaziing fast while the ricoh heads print better quality, but much slower. Did you have issues with the ricoh's?
 
10sacer

10sacer

New Member
Not changing from the Ricoh's - just adding more of them. I need the quality plus the increase in throughput I can get with the 20 head model vs. an 8 head model.
 
10sacer

10sacer

New Member
Pat,

That's difficult to answer as everyone's perception of "quality" is probably different.
My first CET had the KonicaMinolta heads and was 6-color (CMYKLcLM) and it printed beautifully, but I needed more speed while maintaining quality level that my clients are used to getting from us.

I was pretty skeptical going from a 6-color machine to a 4-color machine - but the quality available from a 4-color Ricoh head with variable dot is in some ways better than what I was getting with the KM heads.

Spectra is an "industrial" type of head and will produce a quality level that is acceptable to most - just not me.

Have CET print the same file on both machines and see if the difference is acceptable to you.

Sean
 
W

WinGraphics

Premium Subscriber
Sean, thanks for the info. I'm pretty close to making a decision on a printer. The Q series prints pretty nice but i am still concerned with the speed. How many sheets of 4x8 CHEAP coro will your 8 head machine run per hour? We all have customers that need the cheap stuff.

Also, i just found a used HP FB950 with 250 hours on it. It's coming from my HP authorized service tech and he is offering a complete 1 yr warranty. He has completely gone thru the machine and this guy is REALLY good at what he does. He is asking $60,000.

I'm curious. Which one would you guys buy? The CET or a quality used HP 950 with a 1 year warranty. ........
 
R

RyanFelty

New Member
We have been with CET from the beginning... We had their 5th printer made. I can say today I am very happy with CET and their service. They have come a really long way! Don't get me wrong they have always been more than willing to help but i think they grew more than expected and faster than expected. Now, if I have a problem I just call their number and I hear back from a tech shortly if not right away. We now have an Xpress500 and I love it. I am sure their are other great flatbeds but I can guess the service on some is subpar. I give a shout out to CET all the way!
 
Signartetc1314

Signartetc1314

New Member
We have our CET Xpress500 with the Spectra heads installed and running. This is our first true flatbed....we have kept our HP 45500 hybrid running everyday the last few years. Our CET is 6 heads, plus white. I was on the fence on the white, but I am glad we got it. There are some really cool things we can do with that option.

We purchased the machine from Advantage and this was our first experience working with them.....so far, so good.

I appreciate the no BS comments here on Signs101.....I liked the CET reading about it....and at the show in Vegas....but there is nothing better than hearing how things work out in the real world. So many thanks to all of the CET owners who helped us make a good decision.

-Doug
 
S

synergy_jim

New Member
well.... the printer is running. The only things I have issues with right now is the lack of a user manual for the CET print app that drives the printer, and the fact that the Caldera / CET software combo refuses to work with white undercoats in any logical way. I am sure its just a learning process on my part, but a user manual would go a long way...

the good, this thing is crazy fast ( 6pcs 60 x 120 ) in under an hour yesterday with better than acceptable quality.

Also very happy with print quality in production and high quality modes. Once we profile further, I think the draft mode will be just as good.

More details and print samples later.... I'm beat....
 
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