With the EFI VUTEk printer,
Ateliers Cassandre can
now claim to be a leading
sublimation printing
company in France, and
even in Europe.
One of the French leaders in event printing, Ateliers
Cassandre, in Wissous, an inner suburb of Paris,
specialises in wide and very wide format digital
printing on all media. “My father started the company
in 1995”, recalls Clément Asnar, the current Managing
Director. “We are stand designers who converted to
printing and more specifically, events. To keep the
business moving forward and to sustain it, we had to
come out from behind the stand and look beyond it.”
Over seven years, Ateliers Cassandre has become
a 100% digital print provider. The company has around
fifteen employees and today offers a huge range of
print solutions: exhibition display stands, signs for
shops, banners, largescale canvasses etc., for events,
trade shows, interior decoration, businesses and
construction. “Advertisers are increasingly in search
of a ‘great idea’ that will place them in the spotlight,
a communication or customised print product that
will highlight their competitive edge. Our role is to be
a creative force thanks to our technical innovation,
to support them with different types of expertise and
extremely diverse state-of-the-art machinery which
incorporates every type of printing technology: UV, latex,
and sublimation.’
OFFERING SOMETHING UNIQUE TO CUSTOMERS
Clément Asnar is conscious of trends and market
expectations and in 2017 made the choice to put
money back into the company in order to considerably
grow the sublimation division. Thanks to the VUTEk
FabriVU 520 from EFI, which measures five metres in
width, he is preparing for the future of his company. “In
an increasingly strained printing market, the growth of
a company depends on its ability to stand out, to offer
its customers something not necessarily unique, but at
the very least unusual and difficult to source from other
suppliers. This is what the FabriVU allows us to do,”
Asnar says. “The aim is for Ateliers Cassandre to quickly
become THE print provider in France, in particular with
those in the decoration sector and interior designers.”
Staying ahead of competitors, Ateliers Cassandre led
the way in sublimation by investing in its first 3.20m wide
machine in 2015, says Asnar. “It was obvious to me that
the future of our profession lay here and that fabric would
occupy an ever more important place in printing because
of its incredible qualities: a very pleasing look, nicer to
the touch than other materials, a print quality with striking
colours, its ecological aspect, etc.”
After taking time to master this new sublimation
technology, Ateliers Cassandre quickly knew how to
grow their customer portfolio, to such an extent that
Asnar decided to reinvest in the company in order to
grow this area and also to provide a vital backup to
secure production. The choice of very wide format, 5
metres in width, is required for the decoration sector’s
needs, in particular.
The level of investment commits Asnar and his
team to carrying out an in-depth study of the materials
available on the market and meeting the demanding
quality, durability and throughput criteria of his SME. His choice focused on the VUTEk FabriVU 520 from EFI. “The
future of the company was committed given the level of
investment, so my first criterion was the reliability of the
supplier”, he says. “EFI’s reliability has been established
for a long time and the purchase of the Italian
manufacturer Reggiani made the difference. Reggiani
is extremely well-known on the sublimation market and
its association with EFI was an additional guarantee of
the quality of the technology both today and its future
development.”
Ateliers Cassandre’s technical manager visited the EFI’s
Bergamo factory in Italy to see the 5m wide VUTEk FabriVU
in production and to discuss specialised technical issues
with the site teams. “He came back convinced that we
were making the best decision”, something which has not
waned since, quite the opposite!
AN INDUSTRIAL PRINTER
The EFI VUTEk FabriVU is a 4 colour printer, with
resolutions up to 2,400 dpi, it provides four level grey
scale printing with 4 pL to 18 pL drop sizes to ensure
exceptional quality. “Throughput, ranging from 157 m2/h
POS quality, at a maximum speed of 446 m2/h, was not
necessarily our top priority but rather industrial design and
the long-term reliability of the printer,” according to Asnar.
By choosing the EFI VUTEk FabriVU 520, Ateliers
Cassandre is banking on sublimation by transfer
technology and has therefore also invested in a second
calendar. In order to offer its customers a complete
service from A to Z, the company has also incorporated
a fabric welding bench. The workshop is in the process
of industrialisation surrounding the printer which will
make it easier to attract and to be able to deal with
bigger customers. “The VUTEk FabriVU is therefore fully
incorporated into our growth strategy and in my vision
for the future of the company, Asnar says. It enables us
to scale an important additional market. Today there are
very few of us, in France and even in Europe, positioned
as specialists able to provide this end-to-end service in
this very wide format and with this level of quality.”
Since incorporating the VUTEk FabriVU 520, the
company has offered an exceptional range of printing
processes in all sizes: a flatbed machine with 3m x 2m
digital cutting, three 5m UV machines, several 1.60m
latex and eco-solvent machines, plus sublimation
machines with two calendars and a sewing and welding
workshop, and more. “What many customers are seeking
is highly proactive suppliers that can always offer them a
bespoke solution, however varied their requirements may
be”, Asnar says. “With the FabriVU, our machinery is now
of a capacity to provide A to Z solutions and we have the
ability to find the right compromise whatever the difficulty
or the peculiarity of the work requested.”
GOING FORWARDS…
The director of Ateliers Cassandre doesn’t lack
ambition for his company and he is giving himself the
means to grow it. Thanks to the VUTEk FabriVU, the
company has a greater presence among its existing
customers as a result of its larger product range. “The
growth of the company has always been smooth”,
notes Asnar. “Our goal is not to flood the market but to
continue along our path at our own pace in the spirit of service that my father passed onto me.”
Of course, the second step is to open up markets and to
establish new contacts thanks to these recent investments.
He mentions printing on carpet, for example, “but we are still
at the stage of discovering all of the printer’s possibilities and
there are definitely creative opportunities and opportunities to
add value that we aren’t even aware of yet.”
Every day, new material profiles are produced on an ongoing
basis to provide a fully comprehensive and original range
of products and services. “We try to find new added value
media to provide arguments to encourage our customers
to assess certain sublimation outputs. Furthermore, they
are very responsive to and interested in the potential our
recent investments offer. It certainly takes time to convince
customers and especially to change their habits but we are
perfectly equipped to do so!”
Created in 1995 in Wissous, l’Essonne, Ateliers
Cassandre was initially a stand designer which
converted some years later to printing and more
particularly, to events. The aim of this new positioning
is to stand out and for this, the SME is investing
in wide format digital printing (up to 5m in width)
and on all media: PVC, wood, textiles, Plexiglas,
tarpaulin, adhesive sheets, etc. The director’s vision
for market growth commits it to take one step further
by positioning itself very early in sublimation, and by
offering its customers an alternative with high quality,
environmentally friendly printing.
Ateliers Cassandre
4 Route de Paray, 91320 Wissous, France
+33 (0)1 69 30 01 01
ATELIERS CASSANDRE IN FIGURES:
1995: Ateliers Cassandre is founded
22 years of experience
1600m² workshop across multiple levels
13 staff
1.8 million euros invested over 5 years.
Highlights:
Challenge:
“In an increasingly strained printing
market, the growth of a company
depends on its ability to offer its
customers a unique service.”
Solution:
“We decided to be among the first
to offer 5 metre wide sublimation
printing.”
Result:
“With the FabriVU, our machinery
is now of a capacity to provide our
customers with anything that they
need.” – Clément Asnar, Managing Director of
Ateliers Cassandre
