A Mimaki vinyl cutter shown with black vinyl with the word cut in relief

Plug the Productivity Gap in Your Sign Business with a Stand-Alone Vinyl Cutter

Andrew Gregory

Sales Director | Hybrid Services Ltd

When you embark on launching or expanding your print business, the first hurdle often revolves around increasing sales demand. However, as your venture gains momentum you may find yourself struggling to keep up with the influx of orders. And there’s nothing more frustrating than watching print requests inundating your inbox while you wait for your printer to finish previous jobs.

An inexpensive and often underestimated way to ramp up productivity is to add a standalone wide format vinyl cutter to your repertoire. A solution to resolve your production bottleneck, it allows you to sidestep the pitfalls of outsourcing, while significantly increasing production capacity and job diversity, with the added bonus that it will quickly and seamlessly integrate with your existing workflow.

Here’s a rundown of just some of the advantages to consider:

  1. Liberate your printer:

    Evaluate your current and projected production volume. If you find that your print and cut solution is unable to keep up with the demand, then adding a standalone cutter to your workflow will enable you to free up your printer for the next job, while your cutter focuses on finishing the previous ones. Alternatively, by pairing a print-only unit such as a Mimaki UJV100-160Plus with two standalone cutters you’ll build your production capacity, while adeptly handling intricate or lengthy cutting tasks with speed and accuracy.

  2. Expand the scope of your business:

    Integrating a standalone vinyl cutter into your kit list won’t require any compromise on the variety of applications you offer. On the contrary, Mimaki’s line-up of vinyl cutters is equipped with the power, speed, and adaptability to effortlessly handle an extensive range of output, from stickers, labels, wall décor, point-of-purchase displays, crafting, packaging, vehicle graphics and, naturally, signage. As window graphics and glass manifestation become ever more popular, it eases the production of single coloured, translucent and frosted graphics too.

  3. Maintain top-notch cutting performance:

    With a cutting downforce of 550g and cutting speed of 73cm/s, even the most-affordable Mimaki CG-AR range can kiss-cut, full-cut, and half-cut an immense variety of materials with ease, including vinyl, rubber, fluorescent and reflective substrates, cardboard, and paper.

    Mimaki CG-60AR vinyl cutter

  4. Seamless integration into your existing workflow:

    For a flawless print-then-cut (or even a cut, then print) workflow, Mimaki’s range of standalone vinyl cutters are meticulously crafted to work in unison with Mimaki printers, as well as devices from other manufacturers, . An optical eye guarantees continuous accurate crop mark detection, even during high-speed operation, for precision-perfect contour cutting. Plus, over-cutting and corner-cutting at the start and close of each job ensures that the cut is always impeccably finished. For precise, accurate contour cutting, even when producing longer jobs, the CG-AR Series uses continuous register mark detection to constantly calculates the distance to the image.

  5. Highly affordable, at a size to match:

    Fiercely powerful and remarkably budget-friendly, Mimaki’s CG-AR Series vinyl cutters start at only £1,250, including a fully comprehensive warranty. Crafted to accommodate your printing needs, the CG-AR comes in widths of 610mm and 1,300mm, while its high production sibling CG-FXII Plus model offers three further sizes up to 1,600mm wide. Both models come bundled with Mimaki’s exclusive FineCut9 cutting software, that enables cut data to be sent directly to the device from both Adobe® Illustrator® and CorelDraw®.

Incorporating a standalone vinyl cutter isn’t just a trend; it’s a strategic move for sign-makers aiming to fortify their business for the future. Whether chosen to boost productivity ahead of a forthcoming printer purchase, or as a packaged solution alongside a new printing device, the benefits are clear.

To discover more about the transformative potential of Mimaki’s technology, take a look at the vinyl cutter line-up. Demos of Mimaki’s full range of cutters are available at Hybrid’s showroom in Cheshire, and at the company’s reseller partners across the UK and Ireland.