Taken on in the first week of March, the machine will run alongside another Ricoh, an existing Pro C7100, and will accommodate all jobs under the digital commercial print umbrella.
The new machine is able to take heavier stocks and prints at a faster pace than the C7100. It will enhance St Austell-based Nationwide’s ability to fulfil existing jobs as well as opening up possibilities in applications such as short-run packaging.
Managing director Julian Hocking said: “Just because we already had a Ricoh did not mean we would have to stay with them, so we naturally looked around the market. However, it is my perception in terms of what it can do and its value that the Pro C9200 was the machine that best suited our needs.
“Our [digital] capacity was not enough, and this gives us the ability to complete everything we already do quicker and better – and it helps to cope with our increasing workload.
“It also comes with the ability to do banner sheet duplex at the same speed as simplex, as well as heavier boards, which is a significant addition to our capabilities. We would originally put every job over about 350gsm on our litho presses and we can now do the short runs digitally.”
As the C9200 is 8m in length, more space was needed at Nationwide’s 929sqm facility. As a result, the week before it arrived, Nationwide brought in five construction workers to quickly reconstruct its production space, combining Nationwide’s repro and digital facilities in a “complete reconstruction”, as Hocking describes it.
Work was completed the day before the machine arrived.
The altered floorspace leaves room for a yet-to-be-purchased large-format machine, which is the next purchase on Hocking’s shopping list. The Ricoh Pro C9200 followed an extensive investment drive that has taken in a Komfi Delta 52 laminator, a £200,000 raft of bookletmaking, binding and folding kit, and an update for Nationwide’s Tharstern MIS.
Capabilities on the Ricoh Pro C9200 include taking a banner size of 1,030mm in duplex and 1,260mm in simplex on substrates up to 450gsm at speeds up to 115 A4 ppm.
Unveiled by Ricoh in May 2018 as the “flagship” replacement for the C9100 family, it runs Auto Colour Diagnosis, an automatic inline calibration system, to maintain colour consistency and stability. Purge control allows for enhanced continuous-print operation, while the four-colour machine is designed to allow for “on the fly” toner replenishment.
Following the introduction of the incoming large-format machine, Hocking anticipates Nationwide will likely collect itself after its spending sweep. The PrintWeek Awards 2018 Environmental Company of the Year has a 16-strong headcount.
