Building society installs four-colour litho
The new press has replaced an ageing Heidelberg MO two-colour machine. It joins a Screen 4300 computer-to-plate system and also sits alongside Xerox iGen 3 digital production equipment. Detailing the reasons behind the purchase, Dean Ashby, manager of printing operations at Coventry Building Society, said: "We had been outsourcing some £300,000 worth of print, in addition to the work that we were producing in-house. This latest investment will help us to produce the vast majority of that work for ourselves. We had already installed a state-of-the-art computer-to-plate system, also purchased from Apex, around two years ago. That machine has paid for itself swiftly due to the amount of outsourced platemaking that we had been purchasing. We anticipate that the new press will also prove to be a very cost-effective investment." In addition to being able to produce four-colour printing in one pass, the Ryobi 784E offers significant advances in press technology over the equipment that it has replaced. "This investment has almost quadrupled our offset printing capacity overnight. Not only is the press printing four-colours at a time, it has a running speed of up to 15,000 sheets per hour, almost twice as fast as the machine that we have replaced. In addition to that, the Ryobi is also a breeze to make-ready when switching from job to job. We had to allow almost an hour for make-ready on the Heidelberg, but can now be running our first sheets within 20 minutes on the 784E," said Dean Ashby. Coventry Building Society continues to grow as an organisation, with 92 branches across the Midlands and South West. The printing services department provides outlets with all of their printing needs, including sales leaflets, mortgage literature, investment information, as well as business stationery. Print run lengths range from 2,000 to more than half-a-million. "The new press will also help us to achieve a faster speed to market when print for new products is required," added Dean. The printing operation is backed-up by the organisation's own graphic design department. "It is likely that a quantity of work will come back to litho from our digital printing system. The quality is undoubtedly better, and the cost-per-copy with litho production is advantageous to us on surprisingly short runs. We have to be very aware of our monthly digital print count. Once we exceed the threshold, additional prints become extremely expensive. We don't have such limitations with litho printing." The compact footprint of the Ryobi machine also scored with the Coventry, where space is at a premium - it was a key factor over one competitive machine. The offering from Apex triumphed over two other press providers in a tender-based process. Commenting on the installation for Apex Digital Graphics, Neil Handforth, Sales and Marketing Director, said: "We are especially delighted that a major in-plant printing operation such as Coventry Building Society has recognised the cost advantages of litho printing over digital for certain types of work, and for relatively short run lengths. It is also encouraging that a number of similar organisations have already been to the Coventry to see this press in action."
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Coventry Building Society has announced details of the purchase and installation of a Ryobi 784E B2-format four-colour offset-litho press at its in-house printing operation based in Warwickshire. The press was purchased from the UK's exclusive distributor for Ryobi presses, Apex Digital Graphics, Hemel Hempstead.
