Going Digital with Traffic Signs in Taiwan

Traffic sign converters in Taiwan have struggled with ways to streamline production in order to provide their customers with shortened lead times. Specification compliance and long-term durability demands have restricted fabrication methods to time-consuming computer-cut films and screen printing processes. Computer-cut transparent and colored films also limit creativity and color choices, as well as creating supply chain headaches given the need for large inventories multiple highway colors and roll widths. Screen printing is slow and messy, with cumbersome and expensive waste disposal regulations controlling ink and solvent-soaked cleaning supplies. A few adventurous fabricators experimented with digital printers popular in the commercial graphics industry to solve production problems, but hope quickly turned to disappointment when colors couldn’t hit the mark, and signs began fading shortly after installation in the field.

Because many fabricators understood how digital printing transformed the commercial graphics industry by simplifying production, reducing waste, and enabling better service to their customers, they remained interested in the potential of a digital solution. But with experimental failures still fresh in their minds, many greeted the performance claims made by Avery Dennison with their TrafficJet™ Print System with a heavy dose of skepticism. How could this solution provide warranted color and reflectivity compliance for up to 15 years when others had failed? 

Avery Dennison’s team of sales of digital technical experts started with a formal product launch in Taiwan in 2016. Thanks to the brand’s reflective sheeting reputation for durability, the team successfully demonstrated how the same advanced technology had been applied to the inks and protective overlays used in the TrafficJet™ system. Unlike other printers that use standard OEM or third party CMYK inks, Avery Dennison manufacturers its own line of spot color inks for TrafficJet. These inks share pigment technology found in its own reflective sheeting and overlay films, assuring not only conformance with government color specifications, but extended outdoor sign durability - up to 15 years when printer per recommendations. In-house ink production also allows for printed sign quality control unmatched by any of our competitors. Each of the team’s claims were supported by a variety of printed samples, test reports, and demonstrations - including several live-action webcam print sessions with our Hands on Lab team in our Chicago area headquarters.