CPI propels its publishing proposition with the Canon ColorStream 6700

Print Solutions

CPI Group has invested in the Canon ColorStream 6700 and imagePress C9010 as part of its long term strategy to deliver a fully automated proposition to its customers. Supporting its plans to expand further into the publishing sector, the new purchases will allow CPI to cover every element of the book printing process, providing a true end to end solution for its customers.

CPI Group is one of the biggest book and journal printers in Europe, with seven of its manufacturing sites based in the UK. The business has a long standing relationship with Canon after first purchasing a VarioPrint 6250 in 2008. The new devices purchased by CPI will help to support its ambitions to further expand into the publishing sector, adapt to evolving trends and meet the increased demand for agile solutions.

In June 2020, CPI announced a joint venture with American owned, Wiley Distribution, delivering on-demand printing and inventory management. The new partnership will allow CPI to continue its expansion into the on-demand market through a sophisticated, automated process – with Canon devices being installed in Wiley’s European Distribution Centre facility in Bognor Regis. The new venture forms part of an ambitious growth plan that will see CPI invest a total of £3 million and seek to hire forty new members of staff over the next three years.

The ColorStream 6700 will allow the company to meet increased industry demands for short run and zero inventory orders. As a result, when it was looking to invest in an appropriate solution, it knew it needed something that that was intuitive and easy to use and would offer customers a seamless solution. With its advanced image processing technologies and running speeds of up to 150 metres per minute, the ColorStream was the ideal choice. Its built-in technology will also allow the business to remain cost effective by keeping paper wastage to a minimum, whilst also reducing a publisher’s stock holding.

CPI has also opted to purchase an imagePress C9010, as well as the Prisma workflow technology – this will provide a fully automated print workflow solution that will help to further increase productivity.

Alison Kaye, managing director, STMA and colour, CPI UK, said: ‘We have had a strong working relationship with Canon for a number of years and after installing a ColorStream printer in our Eastbourne site in 2019, we knew that the device would be the perfect solution for our latest partnership with Wiley Distribution.

‘Since announcing the partnership in June, we have already started working with two publishing companies, Edward Elgar Publishing and John Hunt Publishing. The publishers have already started to see the benefits from the new print system and we are looking forward to working with more publishing firms in the future.’