But when Sprintprint moved into the old fire station in Bamber Bridge near Preston, it was rather more kinetic, a real blast from the past. During the building conversion process in 2012 a box of phosphorous incendiary grenades dating back to the second world war was uncovered and accidentally discharged.

Sprintprint had to hire a chemical cleaning company to decontaminate the area, as phosphorus is really nasty stuff. Hopefully there won’t be any more lingering surprises.

Stuart Smith set the company up originally and is managing director and joint owner with Andrew Smith (no relation). We talked to Stuart, who mainly handles the daily running of the business while Andrew is more on the admin side dealing, with quotes, suppliers, etc.

Their latest acquisition, and the subject of our story, is a Konica Minolta AccurioPress C4070 digital toner press. This replaced one of two older KM AccurioPress C2060 models, and was installed on 1 March this year.

The company moved to the old fire station from its original copyshop premises in the centre of Preston. Smith says: “We moved from the town centre due to the building not being in very good condition and the majority of our work was on the local industrial estate anyway. We first moved to the Old Mill Industrial Estate for a number of years, before we were invited to bid on the fire station. We thought it would fit us perfectly due to it having a shop frontage, we were successful on the bid application and we moved in a month later.”

The building was originally built and used during the second world war as a fire station, with a Home Guard Station and underground war rooms for Preston council staff. Hence the nasty leftover surprise.

“It was closed down around 1980 and not used for anything else until we moved in,” Smith says. “The station was in need of a lot of repair and slowly over the years we’ve managed to get it to how we wanted it, with a shop frontage for walk-in customers, a large engine bay for machinery, including full finishing capabilities, and an upstairs design and large-format print studio.

Sprintprint over the years has grown into a full-service print provider for large and small formats and long or short runs. Five people are employed. Smith says: “We offer a broad range of print services ranging from small quantity digital work to large litho runs. We also offer banners, vinyls, plan copying and photocopy services.”

There’s a wide range of customer types, he stresses: “We have a very broad range of clients from the early start-ups to the multinationals; some of the larger companies we deal with require us to be the base for their print needs, which involves us sending parcels, into Europe mainly... which has been fraught with difficulties since Brexit, but we have managed to keep abreast of the tax and export duties and that side of the business has thrived.”

However, Sprintprint has kept some of its original shop roots, too, Smith says. “We offer a walk-in copyshop and take on customers’ orders if they need to come in – these are mainly small orders for startup companies.” The back wall of the shop is strikingly decorated with an enlargement of wooden display type. “This has been printed on our large format Mimaki printer using adhesive backed wallpaper and applied to the wall ourselves,” says Smith.

To cope with its diverse customer needs, Sprintprint has an impressive range of production equipment for a relatively small operation. “We have a lot of kit and most gets replaced every four years, except maybe the B3 Shinohara four-colour litho press which we purchased on moving into the fire station,” says Smith. This includes Apple computers running Adobe CC and a DPX litho platemaker. There’s a wide-format Mimaki CJV150 inkjet printer-cutter and a plan copier. The original Konica Minolta AccurioPress C3070 is still used, along with the new C4070. There are full finishing capabilities including bookletmaker, Wire-O binding, numberer, perforator-creaser-folder, hole-punch and guillotine.

What’s an AccurioPress C4070?

The AccurioPress C4070 was introduced at the end of 2020, as the 71 A4ppm middle model of three new light production colour toner presses, the others being the 81ppm C4080 and the 66ppm C4065. All three offer 81ppm mono printing. These replaced the earlier C3080 series, from which Sprintprint had a pair of C3070s.

The new series was pitched as extremely versatile all-rounders, as Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe product manager Ines Wennemann said at the time: “It can literally produce anything, from envelopes to long sheets to banners, business cards and postcards, all inline.”

As well as new lasers in the imaging system, which increased resolution to 3,600x2,400dpi from their predecessors’ 1,200dpi, the new presses had a new paper path that helps broaden the substrate range to 62-360gsm simplex and duplex, and also new screening technology for embossed papers.

The imaging system and the latest incarnation of the Screen-Enhancing Active Digital Process image processing technology, SEAD X, were inherited from KM’s flagship AccurioPress C14000.

Closed-loop colour control and profiling is provided by the Intelligent Quality Optimiser, with automation for image position and registration as well.

Konica Minolta’s proprietary closed-loop control system checks and corrects the printed output. The IQ-501 automation also extends to colour calibration and profiling.

The intelligent paper feeding includes a combination of air separation of sheets and suction/vacuum feeding, for smooth paper processing throughout the production path. The changes to the paper path, which included shifting the trailing edge, also increased the maximum duplex long-sheet capability to 864mm and 1,300mm for simplex.

Why choose the C4070?

“I think the 2060 was just getting a little bit tired, and that’s why we’ve gone for the newer model,” Smith says. Sprintprint was already well experienced with its pair of AccurioPress C3070s, so the C4070 as the replacement model, was an obvious one to consider.

Smith says: “We like the Konica Minolta kit as we’ve had the last few from them, also we didn’t really want to go with another make due to having to keep colour consistency throughout, so we thought it was a good option. Although we did look at other manufacturers as well.”

After that, the ordering ran smoothly, with the old C3070 traded in against the new C4070. “Once we agreed the price I think it was in within a month,” says Smith.

How has it been in practise?

“The main advantages are speed and quality, really, and reliability,” says Smith. “The air-feed deck is probably the significant improvement on the machine, it feeds heavier weight stocks and envelopes without a problem. It does take some time to get it set up, but once set up for stock library it’s a massive advantage.”

There is also “faster startup and it’s faster when choosing different stock setups,” he says.

The C4070 can print on long sheets up to 864mm. Is this proving useful? “It’s okay for the A4 6pp booklets we do, but we don’t do many at all, and we have taken that service off the machine for now, due to being busy with other products.”

Reliability has proved good throughout Sprintprint’s relationship with Konica Minolta. “It’s rare for us to be out for a part – their engineers manage to come out within four hours, and we carry a lot of stock and consumables here. Even though we do have two machines, we’re never down – and the quality is very good.”

Overall, then, Smith says: “The new press means there is increased capacity to take on more work. A lot of our work is same-day service, so because the new machine is even more reliable, we have the flexibility we need.”

SPECIFICATIONS

Process Dry toner

Paper formats 330.2x487.7mm, 330.2 x862mm (max duplex), 330.2x1,300mm (max simplex)

Paper weight range 62-360gsm

Print speeds 70 A4ppm, 31 A3ppm

Max resolution 2,400x3,600dpi, 8-bit

Maximum paper input capacity 15,390 sheets

Main unit footprint 800x903mm

Price From around £18,000

Contact Konica Minolta 0800 833 864 www.konicaminolta.co.uk

COMPANY PROFILE

Sprintprint is a small but versatile all-rounder, employing five people and offering litho, digital and large format inkjet printing and plan copying, with the ability to finish pretty well anything, plus fulfilment services. Expanding from its copyshop roots in central Preston, it moved to its current copyshop location in Bamber Bridge in 2012, and has adapted the former fire station to its needs while retaining a walk-in shop. Its new Konica Minolta AccurioPress C4070 replaced one of a pair of older C3070s in March.

Why it was bought...

Sprintprint needed to update its digital press line-up. The company was familiar with earlier Konica Minolta models, so the C4070 made sense.

How it has performed...

The investment has increased capacity and reliability, making same-day work easier to process.