Forget the cliché of a Scotsman being hard to part from his money in this case; it was more a question of once bitten twice shy when it came to buying a cut-sheet digital colour press. In fact, Docherty adds: “I had to nudge them in the end to send me the bill.”
Bell & Bain is one of the few remaining print businesses in UK book and journal production. While others have fallen by the wayside, it has gone from strength to strength, adding nearly £5m in sales over the past five years, nearly doubling turnover in the process to just under £12m.
The Glasgow-based company’s client list reads like a who’s who of the scientific, technical and medical (STM) market in which it operates, including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, McGraw Hill, HarperCollins and Random House.
The evolution of the market and the demise of rivals led to an expansion in the range of work and volumes that the firm produces. As would be expected, its shortest runs have got shorter – much shorter – with volumes of 50 now commonplace whereas a few years ago 500 was the lower limit. Perhaps more surprising is that at the other end of the spectrum it now takes on much longer runs too. Where previously 2,000 was its upper limit, it now goes up to 25,000.
Its print department includes large-format litho with two KBA Rapida 142s, a four-colour and an eight-colour, handling the bulk of the litho work.
Digital move
To manage those new demands the firm has invested heavily in additional print and finishing firepower. Unsurprisingly, to tackle the lower volume work it has invested in digital equipment. In the summer of 2013 it installed the world’s first Fujifilm Jet Press 540W, a colour inkjet web, which replaced an earlier Océ monochrome continuous feed machine.
The digital web feeds into a Muller Sigma Line digital binding system, which was another one of the firm’s pioneering investments installed several years ago.
The Jet Press wasn’t the end of its digital investments though. Next on the shopping list was a cut-sheet colour machine, primarily for producing covers. Initially the firm had a Heidelberg LinoPrint C901. Unfortunately it was unable to satisfy the company’s testing colour consistency demands. Docherty is sanguine and recognises his application is a particularly demanding one.
“Covers have always been an Achilles’ heel of production,” he says. “The colours need to match from issue to issue of a journal across a whole year, so the print needs to be accurate. If you’re reproducing photographs in four-colour it’s easy to hide any faults, but the solid colours used on the covers are hard to reproduce.”
Initially the firm went back to using litho for its covers but the large number of jobs, albeit of low volumes, meant it was running 24/7 to meet demand. So Docherty kept his eyes peeled for a digital press that might meet his needs.
Although impressed with the quality of the HP Indigo he felt the economics didn’t stack up for the firm. The Konica Minolta machines first came to his attention via the pages of PrintWeek, and so he decided to take a closer look at last year’s Ipex.
The particular attraction of Konica Minolta was the firm’s latest generation of machines, starting with the Drupa-announced bizhub press C1100 and its slower sister the C1085, which is the machine Docherty plumped for. Key features of these machines, which run at 100 and 85 A4 pages per minute respectively, include high productivity, paper handling and stable image reproduction.
For covers work Bell & Bain uses predominantly 250gsm and 320gsm boards, and historically digital printers, while able to handle some work at these weights, weren’t designed to run day in and day out on such heavy boards. With the C1085’s beefed-up feeders and registration systems Docherty says the machine can now “just run and run”.
“It’s alleviated a lot of fear and pressure,” he adds.
Then there is the issue of colour consistency. The C1085 uses an enhanced imaging system, closed-loop colour controls and the latest generation of Konica’s Simitri HD toner, which together help to keep the colour consistent.
“It consistently matches work that it printed before – we keep older covers to check that we can get a match,” he says.
With the problems with the firm’s previous cut-sheet colour printer it took no chances when putting the C1085 through its paces. For starters Docherty got together the files of the firm’s trickiest jobs, including the ones that had proved too much for the other digital printer. Once he was happy in principal with the C1085 he wanted an in-house trial before committing his cash. As stated above, the C1085 passed with flying colours.
The machine, the first in the UK, was installed in July and has been running ever since. In the past six months it has been printing around 200,000 pages per month.
“It’s pretty much bombproof,” he says. “So far I’ve got my money’s worth.”
As with any new machine there have been a few minor issues – parts haven’t always been immediately available – but any problems have been such that the machine has been able to carry on running until they have arrived and overall Docherty is pleased with support from Konica Minolta.
“It’s been good, I’ve enjoyed working with them,” he says.
Easy to use
Initially the new machine was run by a senior member of the firm’s pre-press team, but it proved to be so user-friendly that the firm has now trained 18-year-old operator Karly Fox to run it instead.
Covers make up the majority of the work on the C1085, and although Docherty thinks it could handle all the company’s covers it is mostly used for runs under 400. It’s also used for body sections too, when required. Although the firm still uses its Jet Press 540W for most digital body sections it has a small amount of work, including children’s books, that the C1085 is better suited to in his opinion.
Then there are reprints. “We run very tightly – our spoilage bill is just £17,000. Now if we run short of a job in binding we can reprint the necessary sections on the C1085. That’s a massive benefit.”
Overall Docherty is very satisfied with both the printer and Konica Minolta as a company and has had his faith in digital printing restored.
“What it brings is confidence and confidence helps bring in more work.”
SPECIFICATIONS
Max 330x488mm
Speed 85 A4 ppm
Number of colours 4
Stock weight range 55-350gsm
Price £102,489
Contact Konica Minolta 0871 574 7200 www.konicaminolta.uk
COMPANY PROFILE
Bell & Bain is a Glasgow-based book and journal printer specialising in STM markets and has been in operation since 1831. The firm employs 80 staff and has sales approaching £12m. It uses a combination of litho and digital equipment to produce products in volumes from 50-25,000.
Why it was bought…
The Konica Minolta bizhub Press C1085 was bought primarily as a covers press for runs of up to 400 copies. Having had a previous digital printer that couldn’t meet its expectations in terms of consistency the firm wanted to make sure the new machine met its needs before taking the plunge.
How it has performed…
Admirably. Colour consistency has met the firm’s needs for an exact match on demanding tints and solids. Its materials handling means it has coped effortlessly with the heavy boards that the firm puts through it. All in all it has restored the firm’s faith in digital print.
