Premier Print improved flexibility and attracted more colour work after installing a bizhub Press C1060 print machine and a Duplo DC-645 slitter-cutter.
The new machines are paying dividends for the company, which is tapping into business development support from Konica Minolta's Digital1234 programme.
Five-staff Premier Print in Cwmbran, South Wales, expects to make a return on investment on its Konica Minolta 60ppm digital colour printer and Duplo finishing kit within three years.
Rob Baldwin, joint owner with Kevin Rideout, said Premier spent £60,000 on the kit. The Konica Minolta replaced a Xerox 250 and the Duplo a Graphic Whizard and smaller Duplo machine.
“We’re making full use of the Konica Minolta bizhub Press C1060: our click charges are now less than a third than they were with our Xerox.
“Quality is superb, it ticks all the boxes. I was spending £1,000 a month on click charges. The cost has gone from about 9.5p to 3.4p. I am trebling the throughput because of the cheaper click cost.”
He added: “In the past you could always tell whether print was litho or digital because the toner had a noticeable sheen.
“But the clarity and quality now is fantastic. This, combined with the Duplo, is helping us to cut down on our outsourcing costs.”
A high degree of automation on the Duplo DC-645 freed up time for the staff, who now spend three minutes programming the system and filling trays.
Baldwin said: “We’re saving ourselves around two hours a day, but it could be a lot more.”
Premier Print makes a turnover of almost £600,000 from commercial work for councils, housing associations and schools.
Another benefit of the new Duplo and Konica Minolta set-up was the prospect of setting up a web-to-print system and growing into new markets such as education, according to Baldwin.
“The Konica Minolta and Duplo systems have freed up more time for me to develop new avenues of business and provide an ever better service for customers. The benefits of digital colour are helping us win new contracts in education.”
