The Kodak Nexpress in the X1 workshop
In the face of diminishing lithographic margins, Berkshire printers X1 has invested in a second Kodak Nexpress boosting the company’s speed, efficiency and profitability.
Many of the company’s customers request content-based web to print mailings on many different substrates. This demands short-runs of high quality products with a fast turnaround.
Managing director, Tim Lance, explained, ‘We have a lot of content based web2print orders, including mailings and pick and print. Our client base is incredibly varied, with a number of businesses, charities and individuals using our online service to order personalised items generally in short-runs. As a result, we were increasingly using Kodak’s Nexpress Press for successful print runs, whereas profitable lithographic orders were diminishing.
‘In terms of the lithographic market, we were being forced to fight harder for business with smaller margins. Some companies were printing runs at unsustainable losses and driving themselves into the ground – obviously we wanted to avoid this, and we identified digital printing as a way of doing this.’
The company first installed a digital print press 10 years ago, purchasing a Nexpress Press in order to deal with fast print runs for a range of products, including mailings and promotional marketing material, such as magnets and personalised chocolate boxes. These orders ensured that the existing press ran at capacity.
Mr Lance explained, ‘As our digital printer was often at capacity while our orders for profitable lithographic runs were diminishing, we saw an opportunity to increase our profitability by focusing on digital print. We decided to become a fully ‘digital house’ by installing another Nexpress Press and outsourcing all of our lithographic orders.’
The company has had a smooth transition into dedicated digital printing, and the company is reaping the rewards of the move. The increased capacity for printing on a number of substrates has boosted the speed, efficiency and profitability of X1’s orders. Customers are keen to explore the new finishes on offer, and exploit the faster turnaround for orders.
