The Dartford-based business, which is traditionally a Heidelberg-house litho firm, opted for the Ricoh machine, supplied by the German manufacturer.

Installed last month, the Ricoh C751 complements the company's six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74-6 and enables Diamond to respond to a burgeoning demand for short-run work.

According to Diamond Colour Print production manager Glenn Pollard, the business was being forced to turn digital work away while the digital print jobs they were outsourcing to other companies was proving too costly.

He said: "The number of orders the business is generating remains steady but the runs required of us is getting smaller.

"If you want to be here in five years' time, you need to diversify. Investing in the Ricoh machine has allowed us to do that."

Diamond Colour Print, which employs 13 staff, analysed a range of options on the market – including Canon, Xerox and HP Indigo – before deciding on the Ricoh C751.

"It fits well with our Speedmaster SM 74-6 and allows us to provide customers with a full range of options in terms of run length, product and even personalisation," he said.

The Ricoh Pro C751 has a monthly duty cycle of 350,000pp and a print speed of between 65ppm and 75ppm. It can print at a resolution up to 1,200x4,800dpi.

Pollard added that by switching some of its existing short-run work from the Speedmaster to the C751, has enabled the Kent-based company to free up capacity and compete for additional litho work.



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