Commissioned in May, the two toner presses replaced an older Ricoh Pro C9110 production printer.
Fitted with 11 colour channels, including neon and metallic inks alongside a security UV red, the new presses have helped Poplar Services push its production capacity.
Martin Winders, managing director at Poplar Services, told Printweek the two new machines have been “absolutely superb”.
He said: “We went out to the market, knowing that we wanted to change one of our digital presses. We had a look around, and for us, the Ricohs just wiped the floor. What was really, really important to us was the fact that they’re not fussy what stocks you put in them.”
Winders and team went down to Ricoh UK’s Telford Customer Experience Centre, before signing for the company to become the UK’s first company to have both C9500 and C7500 installed on site.
The C9500, a sheetfed toner press, handles media between 40 and 470gsm, with speeds up to 135ppm and resolutions of 1,200dpi as standard, or up to 2,400x4,800dpi; its smaller brother, the C7500, prints up to 95ppm.
“The machines really push us to the next level,” said Winders, who oversees a team of nine.
“It allows us to offer now the full range of neons and security print, and opens doors that we’ve never really had open to us before – it adds a few strings to our bow, which, after Covid, we all appreciate.”
The team took delivery of a Morgana cutter at the same time as the new printers, which has also opened up a number of new avenues, including small-format packaging.
The Morgana FB9000 Pro automatic die-cutter has been “an absolute treat” said Winders.
“Since we’ve put it in, we haven’t had to send a single job out to be form cut, because we can do it all ourselves. We’ve been doing some packaging for a pharmaceutical company; we’ve done lots of different things that we wouldn’t have previously been able to engage with, either, like kiss-cut labels. It’s fantastic.”
Having two presses in the place of the older C9110 is not just about having greater capacity.
“What I really wanted was to completely – aside from the electricity going off – eliminate downtime. But it also allows us to put an awful lot more work through,” Winders said.
Poplar will celebrate its 38th year in business in October; over the years, it has shifted from SRA2 litho to digital, with an emphasis on keeping a strong design studio in-house.
“Thankfully, we have a loyal customer base – but we’re investing, going out to the market, and we want more clients,” Winders added.
Poplar turns over around £800,000 annually, with aims to break £1m following the latest installation round.
