When customers come to you with late notice or rush orders, you want to come through for them and save the day. However, it isn’t always possible to turn orders around fast enough, especially if you’re relying on a third-party decorator or if your in-house decoration equipment isn’t up to date. Remember: technology advances quickly, meaning decoration capabilities are constantly evolving. When was the last time you assessed the speed of the equipment you rely on?

The Vortex 2 digital printer makes last-minute orders a piece of cake. Not only will you not have to waste time shipping products out to a third-party decorator, but the Vortex 2 is also twice as fast as what’s currently on the market. Plus, it can decorate two products at once, even if they have different artwork. All these elements combine for super-fast turnarounds, no matter the job size, all without sacrificing quality – a win-win for you and your clients who need orders ASAP.

You always want to say “yes” when clients come to you with a project request, but some small-quantity orders simply aren’t worth the spend. For popular decoration methods like pad printing or screen printing, short-run jobs quickly become costly when you factor in creating plates, ordering inks and setup labor. These fees can quickly double or triple the overall cost for your client and cut into your potential profits. No one likes turning away customers, but sometimes you simply need to think about the bottom line.

With the Vortex 2 digital printer, the cost of printing generally remains the same no matter how many pieces your clients need decorated. Full-color digital printing eliminates the need to create plates for each design, making initial setup simple and inexpensive. And because the Vortex 2 is also lightning fast, you can turn these orders around quickly and continue fulfilling those larger-quantity orders too.

There are many perks of common decoration methods like pad printing, but that doesn’t mean the technique is without its challenges. Here are some of the most common issues decorators deal with:

• Distorted prints: : Using the wrong pad durometer or shape can create distortion in the way the artwork is released onto the product, making the final print more of an eyesore than it is impressive.
• Human error: Using the wrong ink viscosity or plate etch depths can ruin graphics and look unprofessional.
• Atmosphere influence: Different seasons can affect viscosity, the pot life of the ink, the depth of your plate and adhesion to the substrate, making this yet another challenge that changes constantly.

When you print directly onto products with the Vortex 2, all these factors are virtually eliminated. What you see is what you get, and you can trust this machine to do the hard work for you, resulting in professional and polished full-color imprints every time.

One tricky part of printing products is getting high-quality results when working with artwork that has both large, bold portions (think: a big block of solid color) as well as tiny, fine lines (think: a small register mark). Plate etchings need to be both deep enough to reproduce fine lines without being so deep that bold areas spill over and have messy, unclear borders. It’s a fine line to walk and difficult to pull off well, opening the door for delayed project orders, wasted time and materials or unhappy clients.

Because digital printing doesn’t require plates to carry ink onto products, you’ll never have to worry about your client’s artwork coming out messy when you use the Vortex 2. Both big, bold areas and intricate lines will be reproduced exactly as planned, with no need to solve the puzzle of how to make it happen.

While most people think about products when it comes to inventory shortages, the same issue is true for inks. With shipping delays and raw material shortages running rampant, all types of ink are now scarce and can be hard to get your hands on. This is bad news for decorators. After all, without ink, you can’t decorate with most methods. It’s crucial for suppliers and decorators to shore up reliable ink sources or you risk turning away orders when your supply runs dry.

The Vortex 2 uses the Vibrance ink line from AutoTran, Inc. Because AutoTran, Inc. (the creators of the Vortex 2) has control of the Vibrance ink line, they’re able to maintain stock levels and availability while eliminating the increasing challenges for inks manufactured out of the country. Not only will you have a reliable digital printer, you’ll have a reliable ink source as well.

See the Vortex 2 for Yourself

Want to learn more about the Vortex 2? Check out these short videos to see this innovative machine in action for yourself.