The Océ ColorStream 3500 joins an Océ JetStream 2200 to double white paper capacity and improve the quality of this offering, where all parts of the form are printed at once, allowing for every-one-different personalisation.

“With a white paper solution you can send a different message to a million different people. Our existing customers have moved a lot of their work into that, and with the investment in the ColorStream we’re hoping to attract a new market of people interested in this,” said Geoff Mordt, managing director of Polestar Applied Solutions.

He added: “The ColourStream has taken the colour gamut from the JetStream, which was our highest quality machine, to another level. We’re printing for some big brands so the colour is absolutely critical.”

The four mono Canon Océ VarioStream 8650s replace four Océ 9000s and boost Polestar’s capacity to overlay elements of personalisation onto pre-litho-printed transactional and transpromotional items. 

The company has also invested in Canon’s Prisma production workflow software to support these machines.

Mordt explained that one of the critical factors in investing in this software was the high levels of data security it offered Polestar, which is PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) accredited.

He said: “I think we may be one of the few manufacturing sites that holds that- it allows you to print financial data, credit card data for example.”

The Canon Océ installs follow a million pound investment this year in two high speed, high integrity Pitney Bowes enclosing lines, which joined two existing Pitney Bowes lines. 

“Those are critical to the high sensitivity, financial data we mail out,” said Mordt.

He said: “While we feel that inkjet is the future for our business, it’s important to have both toner-based and inkjet technologies, assigning the right production line for the right application."