The ROQ ECO Automatic Screen Printing Press has three key functions that will help Your Operators print faster while making Your business more profitable. Learn how Fly Mode, control panel Squeegee & Flood Speed Control, and Job Recall are game changers for Your business.
Brett Bowden of Printed Threads started upgrading to ROQ YOU presses in 2015, quickly replacing 3 M&R Sportsman’s with 2 ROQ presses – a YOU M and ROQ YOU XL. Once the Printed Threads team familiarized themselves with the ROQ platform and the additional efficiencies they gained from the presses speed and reliability. Brett started looking for faster and more efficient solutions and added an older generation ROQ ECO. Printed Threads’ benchmarks quota points to understanding how efficient and profitable a press is each day.
After a few months of running the ECO, they did the math and realized that the faster press with chain index, independent print head lift and print, and Go-To Platen functionality was making them an equivalent of $500 more a day, Brett quickly pulled the trigger on a new ROQ NEXT, which replaced the older YOU XL and had the functionality of the previous-gen ECO at a more affordable price.
When the new ECO became available in 2021 and Brett’s team continued to expand and grow as a business, Brett once again started to look at newer and larger presses. In 2022, they replaced the older version of the ECO with a brand new ECO L P16, their largest press, and in 2023, they replaced their slowest press (a ROQ YOU XL P14) with a brand new ECO L P14. So what has the Printed team realized about the new ECO that makes it the fastest in their lineup? It's these three functions that make it a total game changer.
1. Fly Mode
Fly Mode is available on ROQ’s most advanced ECO and OVAL presses. It pushes the already-fast press even faster through adjusting the index speed to its max capability. To put it in perspective…
1200/hr. The ROQ NEXT and original version of the older ECO indexed around 1200/hr.
1300/hr. The ROQ ECO out of the gate indexes faster, but when You enable Fly Mode, You can really turn it up…
1400/hr+ is what the ECO indexes at when in Fly Mode.
Some may say, “no one is going to print 1400 pieces an hour.” And while that may be true, we also don’t purchase our vehicles to be able to only go the speed limit. We need that flexibility to be dynamic in the dynamic world we live in, the same goes for us in the printing business. It's not the print speed, it's the index speed to pay attention to.
The ROQ YOU XL press that the new ROQ ECO replaced at Printed Threads indexed at 1,000 an hour, the new ECO in Fly Mode indexes at 1,400 an hour. That is 40% faster. Which means if a Screen Printer who normally prints 500 an hour on the former press should print at 770/hr just because the index speed is faster. Without Fly Mode turned on, Printed Threads’ ECOs were still faster, however, when they simply clicked the Fly Mode function, they got 7% more production out of each press, simply because of that faster index speed. Now with two ECOs with Fly Mode enabled, the Printed Threads team can really fly.
2. Squeegee / Floodbar Speed Controls from the Control Panel
Ink is a fluid, so as it heats up, You adjust Your speeds, however, if You have to walk around a P16 press to do so, the likelihood of doing that is fairly small… and is costly with that compounded time lost. The ROQ ECO allows You to adjust Squeegee and Flood Speed right from the Control Panel. The faster these move, the faster the press indexes and the more production You get out. Cool functionality that Operators love.
3. Job Save and Recall
Printed Threads invested in larger automatic screen printing to have the capability to print more complex and higher color count jobs and to be able to load multiple jobs at once.
However, with this functionality, You have to switch things a lot more on the Control Panel, which can take some time, memory, and troubleshooting if You forget to modify settings.
The ROQ ECO, OVAL and NEXT platforms allow for Job Saving functionality, which saves all of your orders, flashes, and strokes as well as squeegee/flood speeds. This comes in very handy for larger jobs or when You have to switch between two jobs. Now Printed Threads can simply save a job by job number and recall that for a reprint if they have multiple setups.
These three advanced features on the ROQ ECO are often overlooked because they are not common among screen printing presses or even with other ROQs, but when You use them, You can save time, make more money, and help Your Operators win. Learn more about the ROQ ECO and other innovative ROQ solutions to advance Your business to unprecedented heights.
Have more questions about the ROQ ECO and how it's various features can help You and Your business? Your Automated Solutions Specialist is delighted to schedule some time with You to see what would suit Your needs.
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