Polish printing company D-POS have built a clientele base of interior designers, architects and collectors, with Mimaki playing a crucial role in their expansion
Marcin Krakowiak and Bartłomiej Jakóbowski co-founded D-POS, the small but mighty Polish printing company, in 2000. For over twenty years, they have been operating in Warsaw, initially exclusively creating point of sale (POS) material for their well-established FMCG clientele, which include Nestle, Wedel, Tchibo, Henkel, Johnson&Johnson and Coty. For twelve of those years, D-POS has been utilising Mimaki printing technology, which has helped establish them as a versatile force in the printing marketplace – and not just in the POS sphere.
Today, their clientele includes the likes of interior designers, architects and collectors, for which they create bespoke wallpapers, stickers and a whole range of surface applications. Speaking on their diverse client base, Marcin Krakowiak, comments: “I believe that our unique position in the market results from our outstanding versatility of printing applications that the Mimaki technologies help to provide. This, alongside our full commitment to each project and extensive experience in this market, has helped us to consistently provide our customers with the best possible service.”
“In the beginning, we were designing and producing POS and POP (point of purchase) made from plastic, metal and wooden elements for advertorial stands, racks, feeders (POS that dispense products) and displays.” Marcin explains, “We had always used screen printing machines, thermoformers and plastic benders, but in 2008 we decided to look for a versatile, high-quality UV flatbed plotter and that is when we discovered Teba, our local Polish Mimaki distributor.”
The start of a decade-strong partnership
D-POS began working with Teba that same year and has not looked back. Mere weeks after they bought their first Mimaki printer (JFX-1631) through the reseller, they added the JV33-130 and JV33-160 to their production floor. Today the company owns a total of seven different Mimaki machines, including the UJV500-160, CG-130FXII and JFX Series. The latest investment was made in March 2020, when the company purchased the JV300-160 Plus. Launched in 2019, the Plus series of Mimaki printers boast substantial productivity increases on previous models, in addition to delivering superior print quality at faster printing speeds. The day after installing this latest system, D-POS was up and running, printing the next museum graphics job.
“Teba played a huge part in our initial and continued investment in Mimaki,” Marcin says, full of praise for the Polish distributor. “Their knowledge, professionalism and commitment gave us a sense of security from the very beginning, and we truly value the level of support they continue to offer us.”
When it comes to the printers themselves, Marcin’s faith in the technology has not waivered since installing that first machine. “We continue to invest in Mimaki because we have complete confidence in the brand, and we know we will get a reliable, high-quality solution that will also provide us with the flexibility we need to keep driving our business forward.”
Unlimited POSsibilities
As D-POS’ line-up of Mimaki technologies grew, the business started to expand beyond their initial POS speciality. “The technology enabled us to explore so many new possibilities in the market, that were previously inaccessible to us,” Marcin reflects. “It started with creating wall murals and glass panels for private and commercial interiors, and before we knew it, we were fulfilling orders from all sorts of sectors – from interior designers and architects to our POS clientele.”
Over the past few years, D-POS has produced many complex, high-quality decorations, including photo wallpapers for the POLIN (Museum of the History of Polish Jews), and glass panels for ORLEN petrol stations across Poland. With a variety of Mimaki technologies at their disposal, D-POS certainly does not shy away from tackling the decoration of almost any material; printing on mirrors, concrete, metals, wood, plastic…the list goes on.
“What is really shocking is that customers often tell us how their printing requests are dismissed for being ‘un-achievable’,” Marcin says. “At D-POS, we have made a point to defy that mindset – the fact that it wasn’t done before, does not mean you cannot do it.”
Not only can D-POS implement a wide variety of customer projects with ease, but they have not had to sacrifice efficiency and affordability to do so. “Using Mimaki products has helped us as a business to be time and cost-efficient, while still maintaining that signature high quality, down to the smallest detail,” Marcin adds. He cited, in particular, their glass panel applications in which they could easily achieve photographic quality without the use of any special profiles.
High-fliers
Marcin and Bartłomiej continue to push the company in new and exciting directions. With their Mimaki technology, the two have begun their next venture, combining their passion for paragliding with their print expertise to create personalised paragliding wings.
“We have been experimenting with printing onto textile materials and then cutting them to create the wings. With such a critical safety element involved in producing this kind of product, it’s a precise and calculated development process, but we have already seen some breakthrough results,” explains Marcin. “Successfully adding such unique applications to our offering enables us to stay ahead of the competition. Mimaki’s solutions have a continued and crucial part to play in enabling us to expand our range of applications, and as they continue to innovate and expand their product range, so can we.”
“This industry is fast-moving and competitive, but with Teba and Mimaki as our technology partners, we aim to maintain our reputation as the ‘highflyers’ in the ever-growing number of markets we serve,” Marcin concludes.
