The Swindon, Wiltshire-based business has been running the new press, Canon’s first cut-sheet colour digital printer to print at 100ppm, since March. It replaced a three-year-old imagePress C7010VP and cost more than £100,000.
Managing director Piers Martin said the company chose the C10000VP because it delivers noticeable quality improvement in the printed image.
“We like the step change in productivity due to a combination of factors, its speed of ripping, its print speed, plus improved reliability and quicker fix times,” he said.
“We also value its versatility, through handling a wider range of stocks, from really bulky stocks down to NCR, as well as delivering superb results on uncoated and working with textured media too. Plus, it justifies its purchase if you have enough volumes through its reduced running costs.”
Martin said he and colleagues had “checked out alternatives” but “weren’t impressed by gimmicky features and nothing else delivered better quality” with a valued long-term partnership with Canon the deciding factor.
“We had problems with a £100,000-plus device in 2008 and in no time Canon simply swapped it for a new engine, that is the sort of no quibble service we deliver to our clients, and so we need this from our supplier partners too,” he said.
Canon slotted in the C10000VP at the top of its imagePress range and launched in Europe at Canon Expo in Paris in October 2015 saying it was in response to customer demand for a faster machine which still printed high quality-digital work. Previously the fastest imagePress had printed at 80ppm.
It prints in CMYK at full rated speed on uncoated stock from 60-350gsm, and on coated grades from 70-350gsm at up to 2,400dpi. It can handle paper and some other substrates up to 330x762mm. The resolution is 2,400dpi.
Martin said Originzone would use the new press to improve the quality of “ultra-short run” marketing communications because it creates remarkable image quality and the paper handling provides better sheet registration.
“The lower fusing temperatures mean flatter sheets with less static and less toner cracking and this makes finishing quicker and less wasteful.
“The finished item is almost indistinguishable from litho, and that has to be the greatest compliment. This machine will allow us to develop our work with some demanding brands, many have shunned digital on quality grounds, and these latest engines are opening up fresh opportunities for digital printers.”
Turnover at the 15-strong business is around £1m. Martin said the company, currently based in a 204sqm business park office a nearby rented production unit, plans to buy an adjacent 418sqm unit to consolidate operations. He hopes to take on more people if print volumes keep increasing.
In December Bristol-based Latent Light became the first company in Europe to install a C10000VP.
