How Is Leach Embracing Innovation in Print & Graphic Displays?
Everything starts with an idea. With innovation, it’s about taking this idea, making something out of it and creating value for our clients.
While considered a buzzword, innovation plays a key role at Leach in all aspects of product design and development. It isn’t new to us either; we’ve been an innovator in the print industry since 1891.
Over the decades, our product range has expanded far beyond print. Innovations in technology, design and development have taken us further than we ever imagined. Today, we sit down with Mike Willshaw, Head of Innovation, to uncover how Leach is progressing into the future.
Clients come to us with an idea – it could be a rough one or a formed concept. These ideas are, well, just ideas. Creating a solution – and addressing their needs – is another thing.
Innovation is like a puzzle. If you don’t have all the right pieces, the concept will never work. Only through design and engineering can you truly piece everything together.
Engineering is the nuts and bolts of how our products fit together and function. Design is the visual aspect, such as how the print and lighting come together. We fuse these concepts through innovation and create maximum impact for our clients.
Innovation is split into two threads: the day-to-day and the future.
In client projects, my team and I go through a robust research and development (R&D) process to understand the substrates and materials we work with. If challenges are found, we find a solution. It’s about solving problems, not working around them.
Timescales are shorter than ever, so creativity is key to moving projects forward. We’ve seen great success from our modular systems, such as free-standing lightboxes and tension frames, which we adapt around a client’s design.
The other side is product development. We ask ourselves: How can we make our products more adaptable? Better to use? And more cost-effective for our clients? These are the questions our design and technical team assess in R&D.
When we were young, Lego brought the architect, engineer and creative side out of all of us. This is similar to what we do at Leach; we develop graphic displays that we can rebuild, reuse and take down time and time again.
We shape the structural frames of our lightboxes and tension fabric systems with aluminium extrusions, which offer great flexibility for changing requirements. Take exhibitions, for example. One day, you’re exhibiting at an event, and the next week, you’re presenting something completely different.
Our modular design is suitable for temporary and long-term displays, so when the time comes, our team can react quickly and change it into something else. We also incorporate other elements like fabric graphics and product walls and use cross-beams to build XL wall-mounted displays.
Regarding lightboxes, we’ve advanced our control technology, which allows clients to manage the light’s colour and automate it when it turns on and off. This is a great energy-saving feature for the more eco-conscious brands.
We’re also doing a lot for sustainable printing, which is a key industry trend right now.
To hear more from Mike, head to our next blog, which covers the latest trends in innovation.
While our history dates back 130 years, our print and display graphics have never lost touch. Our team are passionate about innovation and creating bespoke solutions for your project.
