Ink savings at Solopress

Print Solutions

Twelve months on from the installation of two Agfa Anapurna H2500i LED wide format machines being installed and Jack Clifford, head of operations at Solopress, confirms they have delivered improved quality, reliability and great ink savings for the business.

Solopress is one of the largest online print businesses in the UK offering litho, digital and wide format print products. The company moved into wide format production 10 years ago but has seen an increase in volume within that department of 30% in the past 12 months whilst enjoying a 45% reduction in ink use and the consequent money saved.

‘Buying the two Anapurna engines has definitely been one of our best investment decisions,’ said Jack Clifford, who has been with Solopress for almost 12 years. ‘We run the machines 24 hours a day, six days a week under normal circumstances and they have produced great quality print with only three, quickly resolved, service interventions in the past year. Agfa was a new supplier to Solopress and we diligently tested the machines before we bought but they have delivered more than we expected in terms of reliability, quality and ink use. Crucially, with the onset of Covid-19 they have also enabled us to produce products that have delivered around 40% of our revenue during the past few months.’

Solopress invested in these new hybrid engines moving from dedication roll to roll machines in summer 2019 and following training started to explore new products and markets. Since the pandemic hit the UK, the company’s new product development has reached new heights producing wall mounts for hand sanitiser units, wall stickers and floor vinyls in huge volumes on the machines. The department, which usually employs 10 staff is currently running at 15. The wide format division now delivers around 20% of the overall business and with the recent product growth has come an increased confidence in their wide format capability.

Jack concluded, ‘Ink and paper are the biggest cost to any printer and the new Agfa machines have saved us an enviable amount on ink in the past 12 months. I genuinely think the Anapurnas are a great wide format engine and I would recommend these machines to anyone.’