1. Cast your mind back to the year 2012; the year of the London Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. It was also the year we stopped outsourcing production and made the decision to invest in our very first EFI VUTEk printer, kickstarting our 15-year-long partnership with CMYUK. This investment was the turning point that transformed Venture Banners into the trade-only large-format printer that we are today.

    • Venture Banners Production Facility
    • In 2017 we moved into our 21,000sq ft production facility in Braintree

  2. CMYUK is the UK’s largest independent supplier of large-format digital printers, cutting equipment, and materials. Our connection with Managing Director Robin East was what got the collaboration started all those years ago, and we still have a fantastic relationship today.

  3. Back when we first started out, Robin would regularly call us up and tell us that we should buy a printer. Once we had decided this was indeed a good idea, CMYUK took us to Belgium to see the EFI GS VUTEk machines. Surprise surprise, we loved them, and in 2012 our first printer was delivered. By 2013,a second machine was already on its way.

Outstanding support from EFI

    • Two H5s
    • We quickly became an 'EFI house' with our first printers delivered in 2013 and the second shortly after in 2013

  2. Our momentum was momentarily stunted when in 2014, we had a catastrophic flood. However, this only strengthened our relationship with EFI when the company flew parts in overnight to keep us going. The backup we received from EFI was spectacular, and ever since that moment we’ve been an EFI house, cemented by our ongoing partnership with CMYUK.

    This investment continued as we grew our textile offering, and in 2017 having moved into our current premises, we installed an MTEX fabric printer. However, we quickly realised we needed more speed with demand growing and this led us to invest in our first EFI FabriVU 340 machine. These machines have been an absolute game changer for us in terms of their speed and reliability, and the fact they recycle all their inks is also a big plus!

Continued investment

    • EFI Fabrivu dye-sublimation printer
    • We purchased an EFI FabriVU 340i+ with in-line fixation last year

  2. When we purchased our first FabriVU 340, we also purchased a calender unit which could support more than one machine, keeping the door open for future investment in this area. With volume increasing, we invested in a second FabriVU but this time the 340i+ with in-line fixation, offering us contingency if the calender unit was ever to go down. 

    Fast forward to today and we have seven EFI machines! Our relationship with CMYUK over the past 15 years has been fantastic. There’s no hard sell. You go to their showroom, they understand our business, and they show us what the machines can and can’t do so we can understand exactly what they can do for us. This is crucial when making such significant investments. 

    The CMYUK team recently paid us a visit at our Essex HQ to discuss our partnership. You can read their case study and watch the full video here.

  1. Long may the relationship continue!