Well, it turned into a nightmare! Half way through we ran out of pre-treatment fluid and needing to source some quickly we checked alternatives with some UK suppliers. We checck the suitability of their pre-treat with the Dupont ink we use - Yes, it'll be just fine they tell us. So off we go back into production again and then we notice a colour shift in the printed image! Do a nozzle check and find we've lost Cyan! No problem, we'll do a powerclean to get the ink flowing again, but powerclean just won't start
Why does all this happen when you're on your biggest order? Then we do some wash tests and the image breaks up and that horrible 'sinking feeling' sets in. Of course, I have a trip to FESPA in Hamburg planned too so we're trying to get the order complete beforehand and we fail.
In the end, you have to put your hands up and surrender, a horrible feeling but has to be done or you get so upset.
The upshot:
We let down the client.
We let down ourselves.
Everything had been going so well too! But, we have to take a few steps back, learn from these horrible experiences and try and rebuild our confidence once more.
We've learned a lot from this experience, a hard way to learn too, but I hope it will make us better for the future.
Shit happens - I hope not to often!
