Located in trendy east London, a stone’s throw from City University and a brief stroll from the hip bars of Angel, is digital and litho printer Printflow. While a print works might not appear to share much common ground with the East End’s iPad-wielding arty set, they both have a common goal in mind: both want to be ahead of the game.

For Printflow, being ahead of the game means investing in technology that will deliver the reliability and performance that is central to any SME print outfit. To this end, in November 2010, the company bought a monochrome Xerox Nuvera 288 EA Perfecting Production System (PPS).

"The 288 was the ideal machine for us," explains Ben Manning, production manager at the £5m turnover company. "It could run faster than our other two machines put together on double-sided work and it would occupy less floor space."

The two existing machines were Xerox 6180s with short leases. Manning says Xerox was looking to take the 6180s out of circulation and so it made sense to switch up to something that could provide quicker turnaround and that printed to higher quality much faster.

Perfect partner
Despite being a Xerox Premier Partner, and also already having a range of Xerox kit, this did not mean the company ignored the rest of the market when it came to the investment. Manning says the company took a broad look at the available presses and indeed had been tempted by an Océ machine "which was similar and also very good". However, in the end, the deciding factor was speed.

"At 288 pages per minute duplex, it’s quick. It has two print engines which allow it to print both sides of the sheet in the same pass. This makes the registration a lot better than simplex machines," he says.

The Nuvera 288 was launched in 2007 in response to demand from monochrome digital printers for greater image quality, reliability and flexibility of finishing.

"The requirement to move short-run applications from traditional printing technologies, and to create innovative new applications, led to the launch of Nuvera," says Malcolm Glynn, product marketing manager, Xerox UK.

The press has emulsion aggregation (EA) toner and 4,800dpi print resolution, but its unique selling point is its Pass Through Programming technology, which keeps it in production even while pending service, assuring unsurpassed reliability and up-time, according to Glynn.

It was this reliability that was one of the major draws for Printflow and so a robust press with a comprehensive service package was crucial. Manning says it has delivered on both areas.

"Xerox’s support is pretty good. We usually get an engineer within four hours, and parts are local or kept in-house so the problems we have are easily sorted," he adds.

He says Printflow pays a lot of money for its service, but he says the cost is worth it as Xerox do their utmost to have the press running as much as possible.

"We’re also fortunate to be positioned close to the parts store and are always in easy reach for the engineers," he explains. "As for the pre-sales service, we have had the same rep for about 20 years and have done numerous deals with him."

Quality concerns are obviously just as crucial and while he is satisfied overall, there is a slight niggle in terms of longevity of that quality.

"We have produced some very nice publishing work which has solids and pictures throughout," he adds. "However, the print quality does deteriorate the more the machine runs, so we do need to keep it maintained to produce the best quality."
Glynn responds: "We will, of course, investigate this matter with the customer. We are surprised, however, because we’re not aware of any similar problems with other customers’ machines."

The machine is targeted at anyone with a requirement for highly productive, high quality monochrome digital print. Key application areas include book manufacture, direct mail and transactional print. For Printflow, a large proportion of work is training manuals and financial reports and so the press’s optional paper tray which feeds a 491x320mm sheet, giving the ability to run a royal sized book (234x156mm) four-up, is a massive boost.

With a history of Xerox machines and the ability to run the Docu SP print controller on both its Nuvera and iGen presses, usability on the machine was not an issue, according to Manning. The company was familiar with the front-end so it was very easy for it to adapt, he adds.

What can be troublesome, he says, is running coated papers – mainly due to the cost. "Xerox recommends its own coated stocks, but they are expensive," he explains.

Company-wide benefits
The impact on the company has been more of speed of turnaround rather than any direct financial benefits, according to Manning. Although when replacing two machines with one you’d expect your energy bills to at least benefit. However, Manning explains that the 288 Nuvera’s two print engines require two 32amp three-phase power supplies, so those bills are remain pretty much unchanged. That said, he stresses that the press is definitely value for money and has brought benefits across the company in production terms.

As a modular press, there is plenty of scope for Printflow to up- or down-scale the complexity of the system. Currently, it runs six paper trays, two inserters and a heat binder. Other options, such as bookletmakers are available, so the company has scope to expand its capabilities in the future if necessary.

However, rather than looking at more modules, Printflow is currently negotiating with Xerox over the purchase of an additional Nuvera 288 press – probably the best endorsement the company can give. Manning says that though the machine is more expensive than some rivals, a decision has to be made on business grounds and the Nuvera ticks the greatest number of boxes as far as Printflow is concerned.

SPECIFICATIONS
Max resolution 4,800x600dpi
Max image size 320x488mm
Stock range 56-256gsm
Max speed 288 A4 ppm
Price £200,000
Contact Xerox Europe 0870 873 4519 <a href="http://www.xerox.co.uk"> www.xerox.co.uk </a>

COMPANY PROFILE
Founded in 1986, Printflow is a privately owned, 24-hour SME print company based in east London. The company operates litho, digital and large-format kit and its products include reports, marketing collateral and events materials, as well as personalised statements and mailings. Printflow also offers email broadcasting, web deployment and marketing strategy services. It operates a web-to-print portal for brands to stock up on corporate materials online and says that it can provide both bespoke and ‘out-of-the-box’ services. It specialises in fast-turnaround work and can produce marketing materials, books, magazines or POS materials overnight.

Why it was bought...
Manning says the machine was ideal for the company, as it could run faster than its existing two machines put together on double sided work. The main advantage was the speed, as it can produce 288 A4 pages per minute duplex.

How it has performed...
Production manager Ben Manning says the quality is very high, but adds that it does deteriorate the longer the press is run for "so we do need to keep it maintained to produce the best quality."