In what it claims to be a world first, the Leicester-based outfit invested more than £2m in a Xerox iGen 4 digital press side-by-side with an iGen 5, along with two inline Tresu Pinta coating units and a Kama DC 76 cut and crease line.
All of the machinery was installed around Christmas and was supplied by Advanced Business Equipment, who project-managed the installation over a 10-week period in the company’s 7,000sqm manufacturing facility. The company also installed over Christmas a new Heidelberg Suprasetter, bought for £150,000, and carried out refurbishment to its digital facility, which is housing the iGens.
Last Drupa, Qualvis invested £2.7m on a seven-colour KBA Rapida 106, due for installation in March and intended to complement its existing Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102, for use in high-end packaging work.
Qualvis creative design director Rich Pacey said that the digital move was mainly made in order to take on work for short-run packaging jobs that it was previously turning down.
“About 18 months of research went into this looking at exactly what we wanted to do with digital," said Pacey.
"We looked at various other providers from the top end but we really felt that the level of clients we deal with and our brand portfolio demand quality from litho and we’ve got to have that translate through every area of our business
“Really for us it brings a complete end-to-end service for our clients. It will allow us to look at businesses right from a couple of hundred units all the way through to litho into the hundreds and thousands. We were going to a lot of trade shows and getting enquiries for short-run jobs from start-up businesses, and we were turning this work away.
“We work together with brands who we’ve nurtured from the initial inception and they’ve turned out to be really good brands. So we are conscious that we didn’t want to be cutting ourselves out of a particular market.”
The 2015-launched iGen 5 comes with an optional fifth colour, orange, blue or green, all three of which have been installed with Qualvis' machine.
It prints at speeds of up to 150ppm using an EFI Fiery print server and has a resolution of 2,400dpi, taking stocks at a maximum sheet size of 364x660mm and handling coated, uncoated, textured and speciality stocks of 50-350gsm.
The four-colour iGen 4 prints at a slightly slower maximum speed of 110ppm, taking the same size and weighted stock as the iGen 5 and also using a Fiery print server.
“It also gives us a lot of contingency between the two presses so if we have an issue with one it gives us the fast reaction and quick turnaround time that people associate with digital printing,” added Pacey.
Pacey also said that Qualvis intends to use the machines for personalised packaging work, which has seen a boom in recent months. It is currently in talks with a number of brands as to how it can work with them on personalisation. KitKat is the latest to embrace the trend.
Specialising in packaging for the food, cosmetic, multimedia and horticulture markets, £11.5m-turnover Qualvis employs 104 staff.
Pacey added that the investment could have a stable impact on turnover growth, which increased by 15% last year.
