Arriving at the Woolwich, east London business in April, the haul comprised a Ricoh Pro C7200 digital production printer, a Ricoh Ri 100 direct-to-garment printer, an Ashgate Kasfold 640 bookletmaker and a Duplo DC-616 creaser-folder.
Representing a circa £100,000 spend, the deal is intended to solidify Diamond’s ability to take on “99%” of print jobs, according to managing director Gary Norris.
Norris said: “We are very busy and just trying to keep up with demand. Digital print is ridiculously on-demand, meaning everyone wants things turned around fast.
“The 7200 is a fast model that can print duplex in a single pass, while the Kasfold helps us with the digital production of A4 landscape booklets. We were placing out large orders beyond a few hundred, which is not competitive, so we needed to bring this in-house.
“We are becoming quite well known for our digital foiling on our Matrix 530 and we are expanding at a rate of knots. We are still a small, new company but we are very compact and have everything needed for 99% of jobs. The only thing not in-house now is PUR binding.”
The Ricoh Pro C7200 prints at speeds up to 85ppm with auto duplex long sheet production up to 700mm at resolutions of 2,400x4,800dpi, while the Ri 100 can print on a wide range of materials from 100% cotton to blends with a minimum of 50% cotton at 1,200dpi resolution.
Ashgate’s Kasfold 640 bookletmaker is designed for digital and litho outputs and can produce up to 1,500bph with up to 25 sheets plus cover and Duplo’s DC-616 cuts and creases sheets from 110-350gsm thickness at a rate of 10 sheets/min.
Diamond’s in-house portfolio includes further printing capabilities with a Ricoh Pro 5200s, a Xerox Versant 80, a Xerox DC770 and two Epson Stylus Pro proofers. Extensive finishing services including foiling, lamination, guillotining, wire-binding and drilling are facilitated by machinery from Graphtec, Ideal, Vivid, Citobora, Morgana, JBI and Easycoat.
On the approach to the end of his fifth year in business, Norris said he was hoping to guide his team of four staff to a turnover of £500,000.
