Replacing a nine-year-old Kodak NexPress with a new 135ppm Canon imagePress V1350 workhorse and a 70ppm imagePress V700 for backup and long sheet work, Tompkin Press will now be able to roughly double its output.
Buying the presses through reseller Digital Printing Systems, Tompkin Press took delivery of the machines over the summer.
One of the key attractions of the Canon devices was their low relative running cost, said managing director Richard Tompkin.
“The old press was very expensive to run on the electricity,” he told Printweek, adding that company's monthly power consumption had dropped by 75% since swapping out the NexPress.
“The cost per copy was a lot more expensive, and obviously Kodak has fundamentally pulled out of the [toner] market, and changed the pricing structure of the service contract – it was only going to get more expensive, and the NexPress was nine years old anyway.
“On a month-by-month basis, the energy cost savings pay for over half the cost of the new machine. I’ve gone down from over £2,000 a month down to around £400. As much as anything else, it’s a lot better for the environment, too.”
Will Doherty, managing director of supplier Digital Printing Systems, told Printweek: “Rich was a pleasure to work with, he knew exactly what he wanted to achieve.
“Following a thorough testing phase and showroom visits, he chose the Canon imagePress V1350 technology based on its exceptional colour consistency, print quality, productivity and robust build quality – it’s built like a tank.”
Tompkin Press largely prints wire-bound training manuals for vocational education providers, with the team of four easily getting through 50,000 sheets in a couple of days.
Not only is the new machinery more efficient, Tompkin said it was also massively more productive. The NexPress could get through 83ppm; between the two, the Canons can hit 205ppm.
“It’s a huge jump,” he said.
The new presses have also given an opportunity to expand the team, too, with Tompkin taking on a new hire to do hand finishing.
“We’ve had a really good two years, which has given me the confidence to invest and take people on,” Tompkin said.
“We just want to keep that good work going.”
