With two offices as well as its worldwide headquarters, the company lists major clients including JCB, Caterpillar, Kuhn and Volvo for whom it produces high quality decals and liveries for new vehicles that are subjected to harsh and unforgiving working environments.
As such, Gate 7 has developed leading and innovative workflows that ensure the demands of its clients are consistently realised. “We take a unique approach to business,” says managing director, Kate Wickham. “We’ve worked hard to nurture our supply chain through product development, finding new ways of improving manufacturing and constantly innovating.”
Gate 7 underwent a rebranding exercise five years ago, to coincide with the appointment of Wickham as managing director and soon realised the importance of building relationships with its supplier base, ensuring they shared the same passions and innovative philosophies. As the digital revolution gained momentum it galvanised Gate 7’s plans to source the right equipment, enlisting the services of Mimaki reseller, Your Print Specialists as the company purchased its first Mimaki JV33.
Operations manager, George Heads explains, “When we look back at this decision it raises a wry smile on all our faces when we consider the Mimaki Digital Suite now boasts a further five state-of-the-art printers. These include the revolutionary Mimaki UJF-7151plus flatbed LED UV, the high speed, roll fed JV400 SUV and the flagship JV300 and CJV300 solvent printers.”
The group policy is to mirror its capital equipment throughout, offering the same quality products on a global scale. US-based Gate 7 LLC hosts an equally impressive line-up of Mimaki digital solutions with three Mimaki UJF-7151plus printers and eight JV300s. The latest Mimaki purchases have enabled Gate 7 to widen the scope of printable substrates to include polypropylene and membrane switch panels.
Heads explains some of the reasons behind why big brands opt for their solutions. “We rigorously test all of the components that go into manufacturing a decal or membrane switch panel,” he says. “We offer our own unique warranty system that ensures all the components meet and exceed an outdoor performance characteristic of not less than 5 years and all the Mimaki inks are tested using our own in-house UV weather, substance and environmental testing equipment. Our challenge is to meet and exceed our customers’ specifications.”
