The 35-staff Luton-based company, which used to be called White Knight 360, traded back a 13-year-old Xeikon DCP/50D digital colour press to upgrade to one of the latest models, which cost around £300,000.
"Things have come a long way in that time," said managing director Lawrence Palmer. "The weights of stock that we can work with, the colour control we have on the new system, and the vastly superior resolution make this impressive equipment."
With a focus on point-of-sale production, the ability to produce work up to B2 in size – and virtually any length of print – "set the Xeikon digital print engine apart from the vast majority of machines on the market", he said.
"We reviewed the market again but could find nothing to compete on the price-performance package. When you are producing POS product for the retail industry, especially fashion, you have the most colour-conscious customers in the world. They demand only the best."
Xeikon 6000 is targeted at producers of graphic arts, direct marketing and sophisticated web-to-print applications. The press handles substrates up to 350gsm and offers 1,200dpi and is compatible with a wide range of print media and formats. The kit runs at up to 160ppm.
Work for WK360 includes POS material for large retail chains, fashion and home furnishing specialists, with runs pushing into several hundreds. Palmer said the kit’s capabilities and FA toner really helped meet expectations of such a "colour-critical market".
Print services director Amanda Gatward said: "We scoured the market and decided there was nothing that could compete on versatility and size. We do lots of large-format point-of-sale material, and A2 posters for pubs takes up quite a large slice of our work."
Xeikon business development manager for document printing Danny Mertens said: "It’s good to be able to please a market so colour critical as the fashion market. This is the very best of evidence for any other prospective purchaser of digital printing equipment."
