Technique achieves digital boost with switch to Versafire EP

Print Solutions

Technique Print Group has installed a Versafire EP to replace an older printer that marked its debut in digital printing. This investment comes just six months after a Polar N78 Plus guillotine was delivered by Heidelberg to the Banbury plant to cover both litho and digital production.

‘We have two reasons for switching our digital printing to Heidelberg and the Versafire,’ said Karl Smith, joint owner of Technique (with Mark Foster). ‘The first is that we needed to create more capacity and when we investigated the market we were impressed that we could do that and add to what we can print digitally because the Versafire can handle heavier weight boards (up to 450 g/m2) and larger sheets sizes so that six page A4 or four page landscape work can be handled.

‘Secondly, the switch made financial sense as we anticipated clicks rising from 100,000 a month to 130,000 to 150,000 a month over the next year. In fact, in its first month the Versafire has hit 150,000 clicks. The click rate cost saving over this volume will fund the investment making this purchase a no brainer.’

Some work has switched from litho, balancing production and giving more flexibility in scheduling across the print works. This is in part because heavier stocks are now possible in the digital area but also because the quality of digital is a much closer match, and in some cases surpasses, the litho standard.

‘The Versafire is already attracting new business. One customer has already been attracted by our ability to produce six page A4 leaflets which they want personalised. We are also in a position to handle work that previously we have turned away, particularly short run board work,’ said Karl.

Technique has elected to use the Prinect Digital Front End RIP. It already has an established Prinect workflow for its litho operation so the familiarity of using this to output to the Versafire is a real benefit along with greater quality and colour control.

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