The new kit includes two Xerox iGen5 digital production colour cut-sheet presses and three Xerox Nuvera 314 cut-sheet mono digital machines, which were installed around a month ago, as well as two Ricoh Pro VC60000 colour inkjet web presses, the first of which will be installed in around two weeks and the second in December.
The new equipment has replaced nine presses, including some older Xerox machines and two Ricoh InfoPrint 5000 inkjets.
The company, which produces direct mail as well as transactional and regulatory mailings, identified the Xerox and Ricoh kit as being the best fit for its requirements following a tender process.
It said the new machinery would assist in its strategic continuous improvement programmes and provide commercial benefits to its 16,700sqm Dagenham facility, which handles an average of 40,000 jobs per month.
“There’s been a huge advance in inkjet technology since we first got into it seven or eight years ago, particularly around the fact that inkjet presses are able to run litho stock and the quality of the imagery has improved tenfold. So we thought now was the right time to invest in the next generation,” said DST Dagenham managing director Dave Reynolds.
“We wanted to improve quality, reliability and the commercial excellence of this operation, but there are many additional benefits for DST in making this investment.
“We want to move some of our cut-sheet applications to continuous production, which will remove steps in the production cycle. Moving some work profiles to a white paper solution will deliver operational benefits in reducing storage of pre-printed stock, and the new presses will simply work harder for us.”
The Dagenham site also operates a range of Xerox colour and mono cut-sheet and mono continuous engines, an HP Indigo 7000 colour cut-sheet printer, two B1 Heidelberg Speedmasters, a 12-colour and a six-colour, and two Pitney Bowes enclosing lines.
DST Dagenham employs just under 500 staff and has a turnover of £55m while DST’s UK operation as a whole has a turnover of around £165m. Parent company DST Systems is currently looking for a buyer for the UK business following its sale of its US customer communications operation.
