The omni-channel communications company began refreshing its PageWide portfolio in January 2021 when it started the installation of a new fleet of PWP T240HDs and Hunkeler inline finishing equipment at its Liverpool facility.
Having initially adopted PWP digital technology over a decade ago for bank statementing and utility billing production for financial services clients, Communisis said it now required kit that could comfortably meet the changing demands of its clients.
Those include quality combined with reliability and greater efficiency that also supports "climate-conscious strategies" while maintaining the drive for continuous improvement and efficiency.
At its Leeds site, the business is taking on a PWP T480HD, providing a high-speed, 42-inch (1.07m) print capability with further inline finishing. This will sit alongside a new PWP T250HD, which will offer HP’s Brilliant Ink for the company’s direct mail and commercial print applications.
The T250HD, the installation of which will complete by October this year, will also enable Communisis to produce cheque books and other MICR print requirements.
The business is also next week starting the upgrade of its existing T400 press to a T480HD, giving it output at 244m/min and enabling it to reduce its carbon footprint.
HP said the more energy-efficient machinery is also part of HP’s Take Back programme, which is used to recycle printhead cartridges and consumables.
Carles Farre, vice president and general manager of HP’s PageWide Industrial business, said: “We are thrilled to have Communisis as such a strong, longstanding strategic HP PageWide partner.
“The productivity across our PageWide Portfolio has been instrumental in helping Communisis to meet such tight Service Level Agreements (SLAs) without compromising on the integrity and accuracy that transactional customers require.
“These HP PageWide presses have integrated processing and finishing, regularly printing over 300 million pages per month, which highlights Communisis’ ability to target a diverse customer base with a variety of high value and cost-effective applications, all with an attentive focus on sustainability.”
Christina McMinn, executive director of manufacturing and logistic for Communisis, added: “Communisis is excited to extend our longstanding relationship with HP with a commitment to six new high-definition print lines across a number of our facilities in the UK.
“Investing in new, more efficient equipment is key to our commitment to sustainability with lower energy consumption and environmentally friendly water-based inks. Through close collaboration between HP project management and Communisis transformation teams, we’ve successfully implemented the first four HD lines into our Liverpool operation without any disruption to our extensive client base.
“To do this during a pandemic where movement and logistics is a considerable challenge is even more impressive and testament to HP’s commitment and support to Communisis.
“We now turn our attention in 2022 to our Leeds facility for the second part of our exciting installs – the new T250HD with Brilliant Ink technology and a new high-speed T480HD. We can’t wait to show our clients the fantastic new digital print capabilities.”
