Greens will be supplied with four of the latest Ricoh Pro C9500s; two Ricoh C9500s have already been installed, with two more to follow this year. Additional Pro 8300 mono series devices will also be added to the portfolio later in 2024.

With over 100 years in the communications, documentation and logistics industry, Greens produce clinical research materials for drug trials, with its document construction and global distribution. The company’s other main areas of operation include data and transactional print, mailing and distribution.

Daniel Buckland, group finance director at Greens, commented, ‘This most recent investment in Ricoh technology has enabled us to further improve our existing offerings to our customers and to build further workflow automation into our production environment, which is helping to support the continuing growth of our web to print platform Doxzoo. All of this results in enhanced operational efficiencies for our business and higher-quality output for our customers.’

Tim Carter, commercial print director at Ricoh Graphic Communications, added, ‘We are delighted to extend our partnership with Greens for the next five years. The instalment of the latest Ricoh Pro C9500 will drive a wide range of positive impacts for the customer, generating business success and long-term growth.’

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A sister company to Full Circle Events & Exhibitions, Psycho Peacock is based in Salford, Greater Manchester and provides a service from design to installation for graphics in exhibitions, events, retail, museums, construction and visitor attractions. The investments are expected to provide up to six times the previous capacity, with the output from the previous four machines produced by the already installed and profiled P5 350.

Steve Comar, Psycho Peacock’s managing director, commented, ‘This investment gives us the scope and resources to fully deliver on our goals for both graphics and print, across our key sectors, live events, exhibitions and retail for the next three years. We can be assured due to the Durst technology, incredible quality and output metrics, that we can stand by our commitment to continually drive innovation which underpins our values and clients’ needs.’

The Tex iSub production printer is said to have opened up new business opportunities with dye sublimation for Psycho Peacock. The company said the investment in ‘cutting-edge machinery epitomising speed, quality and efficiency’ will ‘revolutionise output.’

Andrew McIntyre, general manager at Psycho Peacock, added, ‘The big thing with the Durst is that it provides the highest print quality, massive extra capacity and flexibility. Dye-sub also enables us to produce sustainable products, using fully recyclable materials, which means waste never goes to landfill. This opens up new business possibilities in a year when we are already beating our own ambitious sales targets.’

‘Delighted’ with Psycho Peacock’s investment into Durst’s technology, Peter Bray, UK and Ireland managing director of Durst Group, said, ‘Offering complete solutions from pixel to output, we continue to lead by innovation and look forward to continuing to help the team fully deliver on their goals. Our technology will help them further with their sustainability goals, commitment to excellence, streamlining logistics and moving towards greater automation.’

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Having experienced the benefits of producing printed materials in house from its first purchase of a HP DesignJet Z6600 in 2018, adding a second in 2019, Steve Pickering, chief executive of Sussex Beds said, ‘the company’s average order value has increased three-fold’. This ultimately led to its investment in the Latex 800W printer in March 2023.

The company said the purchase of the new HP Latex 800W printer has allowed it to produce a wider range of marketing materials and increase awareness of its brand because of its white ink printing capabilities.

Nick Butcher, visual merchandising manager at Sussex Beds, commented, ‘The great thing with the HP Latex 800W is the white printing aspect.

‘We can print on limited substrates with the Z machines but nowhere near as many as with the Latex.

‘There is the opportunity for us to look at applications like floor coverings, which is something we haven’t been able to fully utilise before.

‘In addition, we can add graphics to our vehicles and use them as mobile advertising while out on the road.

‘The HP Latex 800W opens up those possibilities; it allows us to go over and above the usual window and wall applications.’

Since investing in the Latex 800W, the family business stated it has improved its cost savings and strengthened their efficiency, production, and sustainability stance. In terms of working with HP, Mr Pickering concluded, ‘HP couldn’t do more for us. The contact and support we have had has been excellent.’

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The report, which examined attitudes and adoption of automation from more than 150 key stakeholders across printing, imaging and associated digital services, found that while nearly 80% of the printing industry wants to automate to improve efficacies, over half (52%) of businesses are still running on legacy or manual systems. Also, more than two thirds of the industry (66%) anticipate increased investment in business process automation.  

Simon Isaacs, national sales director at Ricoh UK, added, ‘When it comes to print services, document storage, signing and delivery, automation has to be the next ‘business-as-usual’ implementation. Evolution is a central part of business success and the results of our survey demonstrate just how eager the print sector is to drive innovation and utilise automation to improve the quality of service and productivity of their employees.’ 

This research is particularly relevant to industries reliant on print services, such as public sector agencies. As an example of this, Ricoh recently worked with the DVLA, installing the a Pro VC60000 inkjet web press and Process Director workflow software.

Jonathan Gordon, Output Services Group IT development manager at the DVLA, remarked, ‘Ricoh ProcessDirector is really the brains behind our operation and was ideal for the type and volume of work we do. Its flexibility means we can create different applications, manage the large volume and complexity of data we receive and process transactions quickly. We can now create our own workflows and job paths depending on type of data and document. That is very helpful because we can make changes ourselves, when file type changes for instance, without having to rely on specialists.’ 

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The deal was formally agreed at an event in London’s docklands in May 2023, held to celebrate the UK launch of Fujifilm’s toner technologies after the much-publicised split from Xerox and ending of the Fuji-Xerox joint venture.

Jamie Emmerson, director of Emmerson Press, which was an early investor in the JetPress B2 inkjet from Fujifilm, commented, ‘We had an existing toner machine that had reached its end of life and we were looking for a new solution. After looking at the market, the ApeosPro C seemed like an ideal choice. We’d been researching it for some time but had to wait patiently until the official UK launch in April to speak to our Fujifilm representative. Following this conversation, we soon signed the deal. Despite it being newly launched in the UK, we did our homework and, being a long-term Fujifilm partner, we were confident that the technology had been tried and tested.

‘We’ll use it to produce a wide range of additional applications – particularly any ultra-short run work that needs to be turned around instantly. And we’ll also use it as an office printer, which further helps with costs and efficiency.’

Martin Fairweather, business development manager at Fujifilm UK, stated, ‘We’re delighted to be further expanding our partnership with Emmerson Press. Their trust in us as a long-term partner is demonstrated by them becoming the first in the UK to invest in Fujifilm technology once again.’

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EcoVadis assessment evaluates 21 sustainability criteria across four core themes: environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. More than 85,000 companies have been rated worldwide. Go Inspire used EcoVadis and World Land Trust frameworks to review  its processes and to help guide its sustainability decisions. Following this guidance, the company has invested over £1 million to enhance its printed assets delivery capabilities and to further reduce its energy usage.

The company has invested in two eight-station Quadient DS700s with three-way cameras enabling them to automatically collate, fold, insert, seal and count up to 7000 mail pieces per hour. Also purchased is a Böwe Systec Fusion Cross high speed inserter, which fills up to 24,000 envelopes per hour. These investments are in addition to those made in 2021.

Danny Cook, operations director at Go Inspire, commented, ‘We have a clear ambition to reach Net Zero and achieving EcoVadis Gold takes us one step closer. When combined with the ongoing investments in our systems and operations, we are making big strides to ensure we can become more sustainable.

‘The new equipment will make us more agile and enable us to improve our speed to market, while also reducing our energy usage and providing power savings. These are timely additions at a time of increasing energy bills for both businesses and consumers. Our ‘always-on’ marketing is now energy efficient.’

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At the opening ceremony, which was delayed from its intended January date by the Omicron Covid wave, regional director of operations for Europe of the Latvian ‘unicorn’ business Raivis Petersons spoke of the ‘rollercoaster ride’ since opening the first Printful site in Europe five years ago and explained that the UK had been chosen to host the new production site because it is the largest e-commerce market in Europe with a ‘loyal and growing’ customer base. Latvian ambassador to the UK Ivita Burmistre confirmed that the almost £3 million spend was one of the largest direct investments in the UK from the Baltic states in recent years.

Operations director Adam Bereza led a tour of the still largely empty factory, noting that only around 25% of the space was yet in use. While a variety of Kornit DtG, Happy and Tajima embroidery machines, Epson poster printing and Mimaki dye-sublimation equipment was installed and in use, Printful is reluctant to publicise details of precisely which models or its plans to expand the numbers installed over time. The printing of mobile phone cases via a Mimaki UV flatbed unit will be undertaken at the site from mid-April, taking over from a current site in Barcelona. Another capability already up and running is Sawgrass SubliJet dye-sublimation printing of mugs. Head office functions are presently still run from Latvia but the intention is to move accounts and customer service to the UK in the coming months.

Mr Bereza explained that the production capability was being implemented in ‘batches’ with the current one being the first with the rest expected to roll out over the next three to six months. Additional products to be added will include canvas print, but the technology for this has yet to be ordered. He noted that Printful standardises equipment and processes across all its sites to ensure consistent quality. This includes a bespoke in-house developed workflow system that links into a variety of e-commerce platforms used by Printful’s customers, predominantly small and medium sized businesses, and which uses barcode tracking though production and quality control to shipping.

Mr Petersons told Digital Printer that a combination of ‘teamwork and strong IT skills’ was behind the company’s success and that flexibility was key to its strategy as there are ‘new things every day’ to deal with and that product selection is customer-driven, particularly by celebrity endorsement of social media influencers on platforms such as Instagram. He anticipated that the new site will support Printful’s growth in the UK over the next five to 10 years, and will break a cycle of outgrowing premises every couple of years.

Future product possibilities for the site include printing of items such as postcards, which would currently be outsourced, and printing of personalised packaging, as well as offering customers photographic and design services. Printful’s first facility was launched in California in 2017 and it currently operates 10 in-house facilities globally, four of which are in Europe – two in Latvia, one in Spain, and now the one in the UK.

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Rugby decorative print finishers Ultra Finishing has expanded its in house foiling capability with investment in a Yawa automatic foil stamping machine from Terry Cooper Services.

The company purchased a Heidelberg foiler in May 2016. ‘As a company we have built up a reputation for service and quality and our move into foiling proved very successful which led to the latest purchase of the Yawa,’ stated Tony Shaw, director.

He continued, ‘We were looking for a machine that would complement the cylinder. The combination of the two machines gives us the flexibility to produce any type of foiling and embossing across a full range of materials.

‘Ultra’s niche is small to medium sized jobs, producing high quality decorative finishes for the commercial print industry. The Yawa will allow us to maintain quality, improve turnaround and at the same time increase capacity.’ 

Currently customers are within a 50 mile radius, but with the ability to offer a “one stop shop” service, location and geography will become less important enabling the company to expand its market reach.

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Based in Washington, north-east England, Simpson Group has become the latest company to invest in Inca Digital’s Onset X3 with full automation, supplied by Fujifilm.

Commercial director Mark Jerrard and production director David Dowson shook hands on the deal in Berlin at Fespa 2018. The company was seeking more automation, and to replace an existing digital press that was nearing the end of its serviceable life. 

‘We were attracted to the Onset X3 because of the quality of its print and the speed with which it can deliver that quality,’ said Mr Jerrard. ‘We’ve opted for a new robotic arm system because increasingly everything we invest in is targeted at improving our levels of automation to help us become more efficient. 

‘We expect the improved quality and greater speed to market to give us a huge overall boost with our customers,’ Mr Jerrard concluded.

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Rotherham-based trade printer Route One Print has continued its spending spree with the addition of two Screen TruePress Jet520HD high-speed inkjet presses plus significant finishing investments.

The company began its 2018 investments in May with the installation of a Screen TruePress Jet520HD to improve lead times within its booklet department. The company says the reel-to-reel inkjet printer gives it ‘huge efficiency benefits’ over litho.

‘We’re really excited to continue our investments into inkjet technology with the TruePress,’ said managing director Adam Carnell ‘By moving booklet production to digital methods, we can really make a dent in our current lead times while simultaneously freeing up our litho stream for bigger jobs. Not only that, but the reel-to-reel set up allows us to completely bypass the guillotine process. With all these added efficiencies, we’re able to look at introducing same-day turnarounds on stapled booklets.’

Route One says it was so impressed by the TruePress’ capabilities that within a month of installation a second unit was ordered. The company plans to dedicate one press to printing perfect bound booklets and the other to stapled booklets.

To complement the advances in booklet printing capabilities, Route One is installing additional finishing equipment. This includes two more Horizon Stitchliner Mark IIIs from IFS, the fifth and sixth for the company, plus a Horizon BQ480 for perfect-bound booklets. The company is also purchasing a Renz AP360 to pre-punch pages for wiro-bound booklets. 

Away from the booklet department, Route One Print has also invested in a Pitstop MB High Speed Creaser Folder. This new machine is capable of folding heavier stocks – 350gsm or more – which will support greeting cards production.

The rest of the investment has gone into upgrading existing kit, from upgrading cutting equipment in business card production, to reinstating its second large format HP Scitex 11000.

Mr Carnell added, ‘All our investments are geared towards improving our service to customers. We’re increasing our capacity, shortening lead times, improving reliability and eliminating single points of failure. We’re also providing a fantastic opportunity to the people of South Yorkshire as we’ll be looking to recruit 30-40 new members of our team over the coming months.’

The new equipment should all be installed and tested in time for the busy season in September.

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