Service and support combined with exceptional quality makes choosing Chinese print technology a smart investment says Scott Clutton, Managing Director of China Print Supplies
Made in China. For many years this phrase has carried with it a stigma. An implication of low-cost, cheap parts, poor manufacturing, and potentially not fit for purpose.
But in recent years, this reputation has been challenged across many industries as the quality and durability of Chinese-made products have significantly improved. And nowhere is this more evident than in the world of large format digital printers.
My perception of the Chinese printer market used to be very low. Every time I visited a customer as an engineer, if they’d had a Chinese printer in the past, it was invariably sitting in a corner, broken and gathering dust. The story was always the same. Yes, they picked up cheaply, but it never really worked properly, so they ended up buying a more familiar big-name brand anyway.
This perception wasn’t necessarily due to fundamentally bad hardware. The real issue was a critical gap in the purchasing model. Businesses would import machines directly, tempted by the price, but would be left without the essential support structure that even top-tier brands require.
When you go direct, you basically have no support or warranty. You also have to ship and install it yourself. But these are technically advanced, complex bits of kit and if you aren’t an expert in the field, it will inevitably result in the machine not working as it should. There’s a reason the big brands need engineers to set them up, so why would a Chinese one be any different?
I’ve seen many tales of woe that do nothing to enhance the reputation of Chinese printers. I recently visited a business owner who had spent 18 months and nearly £50,000 on a direct import and had never managed to get a single print out of it. There was nothing wrong with the printer, he just had no one to show him how to set it up properly.
A market transformation
Recently the market has undergone a dramatic transformation. The hardware coming from some Chinese manufacturers has not just caught up with the established brands; in many cases, it has surpassed them in quality, speed, and customisability.
I spent a long time going to and from China, testing and evaluating machines, and frankly, I was blown away by some of the quality there. The printers we supply now are on the same level as the well-known brands, but mostly they outperform them whilst still costing significantly less.
The printers we’ve selected to market under the China Print Supplies brand use market-leading heads, such as the Epson i3200 printheads with a smaller 3.8pl drop size. This enables incredibly fine detail and higher quality prints than many industry-standard machines.
Unlocking potential
China Print Supplies has identified the key to unlocking the potential of the Chinese printer market. We’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of identifying the best printers from that market. Believe me, that’s no small task as there are a LOT of machines. We also provide that crucial layer of service and support that you need regardless of which printer you purchase.
All the printers we sell, we have exclusivity on, which means we can continue to invest in them with more security, as well as developing excellent relationships with the manufacturers. More importantly, we sell them as a complete package, including delivery, installation, training, a full gold warranty, a high-quality RIP, and ongoing support. All of this is included in the price and it is a price that looks very attractive compared to equivalent big-name brands.
I have nearly 15 years of experience as an engineer and service manager, so I have firsthand experience of how frustrating poor after-sales care can be. Waiting four or five days for an engineer, even when you’re paying for a premium warranty, is unacceptable. We aim for a 24 to 48-hour callout.
This new model, developed by China Print Supplies, bridges the critical gap. It allows UK businesses to access cutting-edge, highly customisable, and upgradeable technology without the risks of going direct. The result is a market where the old stereotypes no longer apply. The conversation has shifted from a gamble to a smart investment in high-performance technology, fully backed by expert UK service and support.
This is the most important thing for me. It’s not just that these printers cost less, the quality and reliability is better. If you are looking to invest in a new printer, you could get so much more for your money by talking to us.
China Print Supplies brings new products to the UK Print Market
