The Cardiff-based business and stationery printer installed a Ricoh Pro C901 colour and a Ricoh 1357EX mono printer. The new colour printer replaces a Kodak Nexpress M700, with the mono device a new addition. Total investment was around £90,000. Print manager Lyndon Ricketts said: “We have a number of regional offices and retail outlets across the UK and will be using our new Ricoh machines to serve retail and commercial customers as well as all our own internal marketing collateral requirements. “We went to a few market leaders. But if you find a supplier with a good product, competitive pricing and great customer service the decision is easier to make. Having two fast, dedicated machines means we are able to effectively print on demand at a more competitive pricing levels. “The closest rival was the Konica Minolta 8000, which was a bit too glossy; more photographic quality than litho and conventional print. The Ricoh Pro C901 has the most up-to-date technology, although not the cheapest. “However support is great and proactive in terms of upgrades and retrofits. The new kit is not greatly different from the old machine, but the reliability and consistency of colour is excellent, without fear of strips, bands or colour drifts. It gives us confidence to run more complex work. “Initially we were only looking for a colour digital press to replace the existing Kodak. But Ricoh looked at our current and future requirements and recommended the Ricoh 1357EX mono press, as it would have a positive impact on our workflow and give us the capability to meet future demand.” The C901 prints at up to 90 A4 ppm and integrates full-colour scanning, copying and document storage for image capture and print-on-demand requirements. It handles stocks up to 300gsm in duplex mode, making it ideal for DM material and postcards, Ricketts said. Meanwhile the 1357EX mono production press prints up to 135ppm and offers reduced maintenance thanks to operator replaceable units. It offers a range of finishing options including multi-folding, stapling, punching and cover insertion, ring and perfect binding. Ricketts said: “We decided to replace the Kodak as the service contract had expired and the costs to run the machine were escalating. The technology has also moved on in terms of quality, speed and flexibility. The black and white machine is a great opportunity for us to open up new markets. “Having dedicated mono and colour machines means the company now has a more productive work-flow, as the 1357EX produces work such as reports and manuals that would have previously been done on the Kodak colour machine, holding up the colour production process.” SET Office Supplies has an annual turnover in excess of £25m, employing...

Like its predecessor the latest iteration of Xerox’s iGen150 delivers speeds of up to 150 A4 ppm at resolutions of 2,400dpi. The device also incorporates the Xerox Confident Color suite, which includes an inline spectrophotometer for colour consistency, as well as auto-density control and matte and gloss dry inks. New features include Object Oriented Half Toning and a choice of line screens providing users with greater control over colour consistency across each page, with a new 210 lines-per-inch line screen improving skin tones and maintaining fine details. Xerox UK product marketing manager Ian Mitchell said: “The choice of screens allows printers to apply the correct line screen to the right part of the page, so it maintains sharp text and lines that are expected from the 150, whilst improving the images and sweeps. Previously there may have been a trade-off where you might lose in one area what you gain in another, but now the superb quality is upheld across all images and text on the same page. “We are really targeting the growing photobook and photo application market with this. The UK is a reasonably slow adopter of this market and we want to help our customers diversify into it, because everyone is looking to stand out.” The device also features improved auto-streak detection, and can process a greater range of stock thanks to improved tray automation. The DFE uses Xerox’s new Freeflow Print Server v9 as well as the EFI Fiery FS100 platform, which is claimed to cut RIPing and processing times by up to 30%. Mitchell added: “Overall this is about improving the automation and improving the value proposition of the machine which is about productivity, predictability and profitability.” The new model will be ready for shipping and available to view in Xerox’s Uxbridge, UK showroom from 1 October....

Like its predecessor the latest iteration of Xerox’s iGen150 delivers speeds of up to 150 A4 ppm at resolutions of 2,400dpi. The device also incorporates the Xerox Confident Color suite, which includes an inline spectrophotometer for colour consistency, as well as auto-density control and matte and gloss dry inks. New features include Object Oriented Half Toning and a choice of line screens providing users with greater control over colour consistency across each page, with a new 210 lines-per-inch line screen improving skin tones and maintaining fine details. Xerox UK product marketing manager Ian Mitchell said: “The choice of screens allows printers to apply the correct line screen to the right part of the page, so it maintains sharp text and lines that are expected from the 150, whilst improving the images and sweeps. Previously there may have been a trade-off where you might lose in one area what you gain in another, but now the superb quality is upheld across all images and text on the same page. “We are really targeting the growing photobook and photo application market with this. The UK is a reasonably slow adopter of this market and we want to help our customers diversify into it, because everyone is looking to stand out.” The device also features improved auto-streak detection, and can process a greater range of stock thanks to improved tray automation. The DFE uses Xerox’s new Freeflow Print Server v9 as well as the EFI Fiery FS100 platform, which is claimed to cut RIPing and processing times by up to 30%. Mitchell added: “Overall this is about improving the automation and improving the value proposition of the machine which is about productivity, predictability and profitability.” The new model will be ready for shipping and available to view in Xerox’s Uxbridge, UK showroom from 1 October....

The printer was bought to replace a Kodak Digimaster mono printer following Kodak declining to renew service contracts on four Digimaster machines, according to PM. Kodak has maintained, however, that continued service support was offered, stating: “Kodak continues to offer a fully comprehensive service support program to all Kodak Digimaster digital production system users.” But founder of PM Solutions Ron Davidson commented: “We were simply told maintenance would be ended as of December as this was too expensive for Kodak. I asked if we could pay more for maintenance, so maintenance on top of a click charge, but we were told ‘no.'” “One cost £175,000 and the rest £80,000 for refurbished machines so that’s a couple of hundred grand that it’s cost me for the machines and I’ve got to replace them now. I’ve now got very expensive doorstops.” Davidson added that, because his Digimasters were supplied direct from Kodak, PM wasn’t able to enlist service support from Ricoh, who now supply and maintain the majority of UK Digimasters. The 1250, launched along with a new Konica Minolta Bizhub 1052 in February, has a top speed of 125 A4 (70 A3) pages per minute and is 1,200 dpi. The machine will be used at PM to print a wide range of marketing mailings, and so the printer’s ability to process stock from 40 to 350gsm simplex and 300gsm duplex and up to SRA3 size was a key attraction. “The company has shifted from being a mainly transactional mailing house to marketing and so it was important to have a flexible machine. With marketing jobs it could be 10,000 postcards or 80, and it needed to be able to process silk and uncoated,” said business development director at PM Solutions Brian Purves. Another key attraction was the overall cost of ownership of the 1250. The press cost £32,500 and has a favourable click charge, reported the company. “It does A3 and A4 at the same click charge,” said Purves. “So we’ll end up running most jobs A3.” Having to install a new mono printer in time for a large job scheduled for mid-September, also affected PM’s choice of machine. “We looked at Canon, Ricoh, Kodak and Xerox machines too but this was the first available and in stock,” reported Purves. So though PM feels the 1250 is an “excellent” machine, the company might opt for different models to replace its other Kodak Digimasters. “Moving forwards to replace the other Digimasters we might look at others,” said Purves. PM Solutions is set to expand its premises with the construction of a new £1.3 million purpose-built extension next year....

The printer was bought to replace a Kodak Digimaster mono printer following Kodak declining to renew service contracts on four Digimaster machines, according to PM. Kodak has maintained, however, that continued service support was offered, stating: “Kodak continues to offer a fully comprehensive service support program to all Kodak Digimaster digital production system users.” But founder of PM Solutions Ron Davidson commented: “We were simply told maintenance would be ended as of December as this was too expensive for Kodak. I asked if we could pay more for maintenance, so maintenance on top of a click charge, but we were told ‘no.'” “One cost £175,000 and the rest £80,000 for refurbished machines so that’s a couple of hundred grand that it’s cost me for the machines and I’ve got to replace them now. I’ve now got very expensive doorstops.” Davidson added that, because his Digimasters were supplied direct from Kodak, PM wasn’t able to enlist service support from Ricoh, who now supply and maintain the majority of UK Digimasters. The 1250, launched along with a new Konica Minolta Bizhub 1052 in February, has a top speed of 125 A4 (70 A3) pages per minute and is 1,200 dpi. The machine will be used at PM to print a wide range of marketing mailings, and so the printer’s ability to process stock from 40 to 350gsm simplex and 300gsm duplex and up to SRA3 size was a key attraction. “The company has shifted from being a mainly transactional mailing house to marketing and so it was important to have a flexible machine. With marketing jobs it could be 10,000 postcards or 80, and it needed to be able to process silk and uncoated,” said business development director at PM Solutions Brian Purves. Another key attraction was the overall cost of ownership of the 1250. The press cost £32,500 and has a favourable click charge, reported the company. “It does A3 and A4 at the same click charge,” said Purves. “So we’ll end up running most jobs A3.” Having to install a new mono printer in time for a large job scheduled for mid-September, also affected PM’s choice of machine. “We looked at Canon, Ricoh, Kodak and Xerox machines too but this was the first available and in stock,” reported Purves. So though PM feels the 1250 is an “excellent” machine, the company might opt for different models to replace its other Kodak Digimasters. “Moving forwards to replace the other Digimasters we might look at others,” said Purves. PM Solutions is set to expand its premises with the construction of a new £1.3 million purpose-built extension next year....