The partnership became official yesterday (22 June) after around two months of discussions, according to TBPC marketing and operations manager David Bowen, who said that the new Canon imagePrograf iPF6400S had been installed at the beginning of last week. TBPC now has a comprehensive Canon workflow as the proofer connects up with two Canon Océ Arizona machines, a 360 XT and a 250 GT. 

Bowen said one of the most important benefits of the machine is the close colour match it provides when compared with the Arizona machines. 

TBPC production manager Dan Watson said: “We’ve been fans of the Canon Arizona printers since we had our first Arizona 250 over 10 years ago, so shifting the proofing workflow over to embrace a Canon proofing printer just makes sense.”

The 610mm-wide machine prints at a maximum resolution of 2,400x1,200dpi. It runs eight colours: CMYK plus photo cyan, photo magenta, matte black and gray.

Contra Vision, which counts Octink as one of its circa-10 official partners, is credited as the inventor of the one-way vision window graphic. The partnership is promotional and will mean that, while TBPC continues to use Contra products for its jobs, Contra will then promote TBPC, using TBPC’s work with its images and promotional videos. 

Bowen said: “The partnership is great for us. It allows us to align ourselves to their name publicly, getting that stamp of approval of being a print partner and then we can get trade advice and tips if we need it from their team on the material side of things."

TBPC uses a number of Contra products, supplied by Antalis. The manufacturer previewed a number of new films at last month's Fespa, including an HD performance high-definition perforated window film.

10-staff Cheltenham-based TBPC runs an HP Latex alongside the Canon machines. It mainly works on a wide range of creative projects for retail, design agencies and print buyers.