The Banbury-based commercial printer decided to bring all of its digital work in-house to give it total control over the production process.

Although it has previously concentrated on litho work, the firm is now finding more and more of the jobs it books in are better suited to digital production methods, either because of short run lengths or because there is a personalisation requirement.

By bringing the previously outsourced digital work in-house, the company expects to cover most of the £40,000 cost of the investment.

“We’ve always wanted to move into digital printing but felt that the time is right now,” said managing director Karl Smith.

“I never wanted to invest the sort of money that was required previously to obtain the quality that we needed. But I think the quality of the entry-level machines has got considerably better.”

The firm looked at machines from a number of manufacturers including Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Xerox and Canon, but opted for the Konica Minolta C6000 which was sold and installed by Apex Digital Graphics.

“It was installed in March and it has been good. Everyone’s been very happy with it and it’s ticking all the right boxes. Our repro department are running it and they’ve taken to it very easily,” said Smith.

The C6000 prints high-quality colour and mono images at resolutions of up to 1,200dpi. It's top speed is 60ppm.

It incorporates real-time image density and colour density control sensors for long-run stability as well as high-speed scanning, modular inline finishing capabilities and Image Controller options.

The company has 20 staff and a turnover of £2m. It produces colour brochures, business stationery, catalogues, leaflets and posters. Its customers include agencies, publishers and marketing departments based primarily within a 50-mile radius.