Kent-based digital printer New Perspective knows this blind parental love better than most. Every Christmas it provides print services to Art Projects For Schools (AFPS), which works with schools to produce Christmas cards based on designs created by predominantly primary school-age children – although they’ve been known to work with nursery-age kids and secondary schools too. Parents take a look at what their child has produced and, if they believe it to be worthy to send out to friends and family, they can order cards with that design from New Perspective and the school takes a cut of the price, making the project a useful fundraising tool.

"We do have some ‘interesting’ designs coming through," admits Gillian McDermott, marketing manager at New Perspective. "Most parents are going to be delighted to purchase whatever their child has managed to produce, but one of our aims is to increase the quality of teaching art in primary schools, as it gives children the confidence to be creative and explore. We therefore provide support material to teachers and that can aid the child in the creative process."

The Christmas Card APFS scheme also includes Eid and Hanukkah cards, as well as a simple ‘Thank you for my presents’ greetings card for those not wishing to celebrate any of the religious festivals of the period. "No child is excluded," says McDermott.

The scheme has been growing in size since it began in 1997 and, for the past three years, has been ably assisted by four Duplo DC 645s – the largest installation of the machine in the UK. This year, however, after dutiful service and with the scheme growing further, New Perspective managing director David Smith decided an upgrade was in order.

"We felt that this year we needed to up our performance levels for the APFS work," says Smith. "We have had the 645s for three-and-a-bit years, and we felt that we could not risk the APFS work on machines that had done millions of impressions – you can’t risk anything going wrong; Christmas is a pretty immovable deadline."

Purchase was not a done deal
New Perspective had trialled the prototype of the DC 745 multifunction slitter-cutter-creaser last year and had been instru-
mental in its development but, when the time came to upgrade back in August this year, that did not mean the purchase was
in the bag for Duplo. Smith went down to the showroom with a range of Christmas card products from last year to put it through its paces.

"I went to the trials with a negative mindset. I didn’t want to go excited to buy the machine because I wanted it to win me over and make me want to buy it," he explains. "Fortunately, I was impressed – so much so that I decided that if we didn’t make a purchase, it would be detrimental to the business. The quality and the speed of the machine was that much of a step up."

New Perspective ordered two of the machines and the first was installed at the start of September, with the other following soon after. Smith explains that the APFS work really starts to accelerate during October so, by having the September install, the company had four weeks to bed the machines in – fine tuning the processes and getting the staff used to the new mechanics. It was also an opportunity to check that the machine "did what it was supposed to", says Smith. 

He reveals that Duplo allowed New Perspective to keep hold of the DC 645s while the DC 745s were settling in. This meant that, if the DC 745s did not perform, the company would still be able to cope with the APFS rush of work.

"While not standard practice to allow customers to keep machines while others are bedding in, our relationship with New Perspective is such that it was the most sensible solution for both parties," explains Andy Pike, Duplo UK marketing manager. "With New Perspective buying the first and second DC 745s in the UK, we were aware that any teething problems could disrupt production. Also, as one of our largest customers, it is our way of saying thanks and of keeping the relationship strong."

Fortunately for both printer and manufacturer, the machines worked extremely well, although there were a couple of snags along the way.

"We’ve had the engineers out a couple of times, one of which was to install a part that was flown in from Japan as there was a problem with the gears, and we had a slight issue with the deflectors and with cards shooting out too fast at the back for the catchments tray to cope," reveals Smith. "Duplo have reacted amazingly well to the feedback and it really has been a partnership. We couldn’t be happier with the service we received from them. Because we have had a long relationship with the company the communications channels are there and any problem has been fixed without delay."

Three months down the line, Smith could not be happier with his purchases. He says the quality is extremely high and the efficiency of the machines is enabling the company to produce cards ready for Christmas better than ever. The fact that two machines have replaced four just shows, says Smith, how much of an advance the DC 745 is on the DC 645.

"The performance has been great," he adds. "If we had not got the 745s and kept the 645s, the project would have been less successful this year than it has been."

Though there is obviously a profit involved for New Perspective, Smith and McDermott stress that the main aim of the project is to enable schools to raise funds and to assist teachers in improving the teaching of art in primary schools – the ‘success’ they talk about refers to doing this better, not necessarily making more money. Fortunately, however, the DC 745s appear to help the company do both.

SPECIFICATIONS

Max speed 50 sheets/min (A4, four-trim and crease)
Max substrate size 370x999mm
Max substrate thickness 350gsm
Max number of cuts/slits/creases 20 cuts, 15 creases, up to 10 slits (six as standard)
Price £88,850
Contact Duplo International 01932 263900 www.duplouk.com

COMPANY PROFILE
New Perspective is a digital printer based in Whitstable, Kent. It produces B2B products including brochures, DM and flyers on its HP Indigo 5000 presses, as well as working with companies such as Art Projects For Schools (APFS) on the B2C side of the market. APFS runs an annual Christmas card project with schools to raise funds and professionally reproduce children’s artwork on Christmas cards.

Why it was bought
Managing director David Smith explains that the APFS Christmas work puts a lot of pressure on the finishing part of the
business and so the company felt it needed to upgrade its DC 645s. "We felt that this year we needed to up our performance levels for the APFS work," says Smith. "The 645s we have had for three-and-a-bit years, and we felt that we could not risk the AFPS work on machines that had done millions of impressions – you can’t risk anything going wrong; Christmas is a pretty immovable deadline."

How it has performed
Smith says he has been impressed with both the quality and the efficiency of the machines, and that the fact the company has replaced four DC 645s with two DC 745s speaks volumes for the increased
performance.