Precision, Without the Price Tag
Every so often, a campaign cuts clean through the noise. GIS’s latest did that for us at FuturePrint. The visuals - airlines and sports cars - set up a point too often missed in industrial inkjet: precision isn’t a luxury; it’s the absence of surprises. Reliability at a sensible price beats theatrics every time.
To explore the idea, we spoke with Richard Darling, GIS’s Marketing Director, about how datapath control, image processing and fluid conditioning quietly handle the hard problems so output stays predictable-and profits, boringly steady.
So, what actually is the message behind GIS’ advertising for industrial inkjet datapath and fluid systems - paired with images of airlines and sports cars? Many of us are drawn to cheap flights: a way to get where we want to go without spending much. But there are costs to ‘cheap’: the painful upsell gauntlet before checkout; hidden charges for bags and boarding passes; the loss of dignity as passengers are herded through cold corridors while cleaners turn around the ‘hot-bunk’ seating; and then landing not in the city you chose but at a distant, ex-military airbase ‘nearby.’ If only we could get cheaper as well as better.
For long-haul and important journeys, business class can be the right choice. Many see the premium as unjustifiable - if only the gap weren’t so large. Yet paying a bit more can be worth it if it avoids the consequences of going cheap. GIS’s point: the difference in cost need not be that great. A better experience should, and can, be affordable.
Now to sports cars. A modern, computer-controlled, ultra-competent, twin-turbo 3.0-litre BMW M3 puts around 500 bhp at the driver’s command, sprinting 0–100 km/h in about 3.9 seconds and reaching to 250 km/h (within real-world constraints). A Caterham 7 with a 660cc engine can deliver a similar thrill in a featherweight bundle of old-school tech: no glazing - certainly no double glazing - and often no roof. Anyone who’s driven both knows the difference. The BMW feels smooth, safe, controlled and easy-almost tame or ‘boring’ by comparison. The Caterham feels like a wild animal, always on the edge: exhilarating, challenging-and potentially ear-splitting.
Both have devoted fans who decide with their hearts: exuberance, emotion, appetite for risk, aesthetics, mid-life crisis… Practicalities like comfort, getting in and out, what happens if it rains, fuel efficiency, room for kids, certainly don’t lead you to a Caterham.
Industrial printing is different. Printing equipment is something businesses invest in to earn money. Decisions are made with the head: cold, logical, as risk-free as possible. Outcomes should be predictable and manageable for profit - ideally ‘boring.’
There have been many knife-edge, Caterham-style printers over the years. Will it run? Will it finish the job or the shift? Exciting-or just stressful. Thrilling for the tech. enthusiast perhaps but mature business needs investment security.
The BMW approach is engineered for the same raw pace without the risk. The power is there, but the rough edges are managed out so the driver experiences only the smooth. Sophisticated software delivers control. That software turns wild-animal performance into a comfortable, lower-risk package.
GIS software, within a complete inkjet integration, optimises performance and manages the inherent ‘under-the-bonnet’ foibles of a fantastic technology that defies physics to eject billions of drops, dosed, timed and directed with precision. Apparent perfection takes a lot of hidden effort: from printhead producers, yes, but also from datapath control, image processing and fluid conditioning.
In industrial technology, boring is desirable. The more boring it is to run, the more exciting it becomes as a business proposition, so, we think what Richard is saying is that precision should be affordable and should feel uneventful, attainable and quietly dependable, not theatrical. If you’d like to speak with Richard or the GIS team, get in touch here