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It's made sense for printers to squeeze a bit more out of their press over the last 18 months. Most companies have put spend on hold as they get to grips with the turmoil in the economy, ensuring that large investments in kit have been relatively thin on the ground. As a result the focus has been on making small tweaks to improve productivity and quality.
Areas that have come under scrutiny include consumables, workflow and ancillaries. But, as Ipex approaches, suppliers are unveiling their very latest machines, meaning that many printers will be under pressure to stick or twist: do they carry on with their ageing equipment or take the plunge and fork out on a gleaming new press? Availability of finance will be a big factor on that decision.
Before making a choice, what kind of areas should the visitor look at and how much do these investments cost in the long and short term? In addition, is it wiser to just buy that new press and make the big investment now?
"Printers are frugal - always have been, always will be," explains Domino European sales director Vlad Sljapic. "The types of margins that they have call for inventiveness. It's about getting the most out of what you have already got."
According to Steve Cavey, VLF and packaging product manager at Heidelberg UK, any investments made at Ipex will
be more carefully thought through than at recent shows. "Printers in the UK are not going to make any snap decisions when it comes to investments," he says. "In the past, some people went to shows and ordered without much thought."
The way a manufacturer sells has changed too. Adam Robotham, commercial manager at Manroland GB, notes that manufacturers have had to become more consultative when selling a piece of kit. "It used to be a case of just selling to the print room but now it's more strategic. There's more of a focus on finance and return on investment."
Far from just selling the kit and letting the customer work it out for themselves, the relationship between manufacturer and client is far stronger as a result of the economic turmoil.
Add-ons
Heidelberg's Cavey expects the split between visitors looking to buy a new press and visitors aiming to make additions to existing kit to be around 60/40. It means many of those at the NEC next month won't be getting into multimillion pound spends just yet, but ‘pimping' existing kit is another matter.
Manroland's best-selling retro-fitted product is its remote diagnostics addition, TelePresence. According to Robotham, thanks to TelePresence, Manroland is instantly aware of any faults with a press and, with the customer's permission, can dial into system and fix the problem. It also tells the operators exactly what to do in order to keep the press maintained.
"It's about added-value printing," he adds. "We will have an area on our stand dedicated to concepts and upgrades."
Return on investment has been a buzz phrase for some time now and there are myriad ways to get more from any investment. One area that may have been overlooked in the past is workflow. However, getting your press hall working in sync is no longer an ignored area, says Heidelberg's Cavey.
"Our Prinect workflow connects pre-press, press and workflow," he says. "We have been talking about this over the last three Ipexes and now printers recognise that they need a tool to converse with all three areas. It's not just about the job that comes through. You can see if a job is worth taking on at all. Printers can now be more choosy and look in more detail if a job will make them money."
Measuring jobs more accurately can aid decision-making for any printer. John Davies, workflow business strategy manager at Fuji, explains that a solid MIS can help companies decide what work is more profitable. "Print has become more of a manufacturing process than a trade one. That's been the drive in investing in MIS – it has tangible benefits."
Estimating helps with the number crunching, but a few other investments can shave valuable makeready time. Gareth Parker, production print solutions marketing manager at Ricoh UK, explains that colour management and web-to-print (W2P) products are other additions that can sharpen up a printer's game.
"Ipex will be about affordable investments that can make more of the general print environment," he explains. "There are plenty of quick wins and the technology has been refined since Drupa. Products such as W2P, colour management and file submission have become more accessible."
Fuji's Davies adds that colour management tools can also save money on ink. "They can show how jobs are separated colour-wise," he says. "It shows how to effectively use the inks that are laid down on the press."
Davies adds that, in the past, this kind of area relied on the judgement of staff in the pressroom - it's not an exact science no matter how much experience an individual has of a particular press. He argues that effective colour management tools ensure that there is no guesswork involved and helps to reduce ink usage, saving money in the long term.
And the role of ink in the production process isn't just limited to slick software. Technotrans UK managing director Peter Benton says that there has been a major shift over the last few years to pumped ink systems.
"A decade ago we would have been talking about printers converting from tins to cartridges as the major trend," he adds. "They are now switching, in number, to pumped ink systems to enable them to buy in bulk but, more significantly, to turn a manual operation into an automated one to reduce makeready times significantly."
Filtration is another area that's picking up and there have been a growing number of Technotrans' Beta.f systems being sold, according to Benton. "These are stand-alone bits of equipment that can be fitted onto presses. It keeps the press cleaner and printers are seeing the benefits of this, especially on the conditions of their rollers. Presses need regular maintenance to extend their life. It amazes me how little is spent on servicing the press."
Back-end upgrades
Tweaks at the end of the print process can also pay dividends. Domino's Sljapic explains that there is a growing interest in adding inkjet capabilities to a litho press, whether it's sheetfed or web. "There are a various number of solutions," he adds. "For example, you can overprint graphic information at 120dpi at varying speeds. It's good quality."
Such a device can be positioned at the end of a press or on post-press kit, such as a folder or saddle stitcher. It's suited for applications such as football programmes, door drops, promotional game cards or newspapers. Sequential numbers or bar codes lend themselves well to a basic inkjet device and the cost, according to Sljapic, is not that prohibitive.
"This can cost less £10,000," he says. "If it's a more complex installation, which incorporates logos, maps or PDFs on high-speed applications, then the price is around £50,000. And if the requirement is even more complex than that then it can go to £100,000. It depends on how many sections you are binding and what equipment is most appropriate for you."
Such additions can bring benefits but, with Ipex looming large, shouldn't printers just simply bite the bullet and splash the cash on a new press? Heidelberg's Cavey believes that some may feel that now is the perfect time to replace an ageing press. "Because they have put off the investment cycle for some time, printers are now looking to invest. And to be honest, there isn't really a lot you can retro fit - it is quite limited."
In summing up, while some may be in a position to make such a major investment, Technotrans' Benton reckons that efficiency is the word for Ipex. "We live in tough market conditions and every printer has had to look carefully at costs to maintain profitability," he says. "Success lies in the detail and ancillaries is an issue that must be reviewed carefully to retain a competitive position."
CASE STUDY:
Newnorth Print is one Technotrans customer that says it's benefited from switching to a pumped ink system. David Hennessy, operations manager at the Bedford-based company, explains: "Using pumped ink has enabled us to make the 10-colour a one-operator press. It would be physically impossible if he had to run up and down changing the cartridges as well as cleaning away spillages or ink knives and still keep it running cost effectively."
Hennessy's firm operates a Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 102-10-P with around 99% of its work going through the press. He estimates that the ink pumping system saves around an hour a day.
Another Technotrans customer, CPC Packaging, has installed its fourth Beta.f dampening filtration system. According to Technotrans, the product ensures predictable water for the dampening solution and filtration keeps the various chemistry processes on the press clean, reusable and effective.
CPC Packaging operations director Jonathan Drennan says that each of the Technotrans units paid for itself within seven months.
