Ricoh Europe recently used Drytac’s Polar Grip polymeric self-adhesive vinyl to transform the look of two of its leading machines at its European Customer Experience Centre in central England.



Founded in the mid 1930s and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Ricoh is a name that is synonymous with print. The manufacturer partners with print service providers around the world, supplying them with high quality printing equipment, ranging from smaller format machines to webfed inkjet systems, for use across the full gamut of printed projects and applications.

Ricoh is very much focused on its clients and providing solutions that meet the ever changing demands of the wider market. As part of this approach, Ricoh regularly invites partners and clients to its European Customer Experience Centre, located in Telford in the leafy Shropshire region.



Those who visit the location can view a range of Ricoh machines in action and see up close the quality of print they can achieve working with this technology. Recently, the communications team elected to take this a step further and decorate several machines to not only help catch the eye of visitors but also to showcase what is possible with Ricoh printers.
Ricoh’s various printer models have an avatar, with the idea of the wraps to reflect this name. For the recent wraps, Ricoh chose to decorate its RICOH ProTM Z75, which is known as the Dragon, and the RICOH ProTM VC80000, which carries the avatar of Harpy Eagle.

Ricoh selected Drytac Polar Grip as the material for both printer wraps. Polar Grip is a polymeric self-adhesive PVC film that offers up to seven years’ indoor durability when paired with a matching laminate. The high bond grey adhesive of the film allows users to apply graphics to a wide range of surfaces such as metal, plastic, wood, glass and brick.



For added durability and safety, Ricoh paired Polar Grip with Interlam Emerytex Pro, a pressure sensitive over laminating film featuring a matte pebble texture, seven year indoor and outdoor longevity, and multiple fire, slip, and FDA certifications.
“We selected Polar Grip because the paint job on both the Ricoh Pro Z75 and Ricoh Pro VC80000 have a textured finish, so wanted to be sure of a good adhesion of the vinyl,” said Shane Barrett, Pre-Sales Manager, Inkjet Solutions, EMEA High Speed Inkjet and Large Format Print at Ricoh Europe Graphic Communications.

The striking designs were printed in-house by the Ricoh Europe team on a RICOH ProTM L5100e latex large format printer before being applied to the two machines. Both wraps were installed ahead of the manufacturer’s Print Evolution Live 2025 event which took place in mid November.



“The print quality on Polar Grip was perfect using a generic PVC profile on our Pro L5100e and fed through the printer without any issues with perfect tiling and panel alignment for the installers,” Shane said. “The initial reaction internally and from visiting clients was that it looks very impressive. And thanks to the support from Drytac, we were able to find the correct products for this impressive application.”

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