Minuteman Press Printing, in Lansing, Illinois, has invested in a RICOH Pro C651EX production printing system to grow its business. The RICOH system is a high-volume, high-speed colour printer with scanning, copying and printing capabilities. It is much cheaper than a printing press with similar output quality when in printing mode.
Using an inexpensive copier/printer system driven by EFI’s Fiery System 9 Release 2, quick-print shops can now service customers they used to refer to printers who run Heidelbergs, Man Rolands, or equivalent expensive, Top-Of-the-Line equipment. The problem with that TOL equipment is that perceivable quality often isn’t dramatically better than that of a high-volume printer/copier.
“With the Pro C651EX, we’ve found a way to improve service without increasing costs,” said Minuteman Press Printing Owner/Operator Karen Kleine. “Our clients now enjoy a faster, easier, more affordable experience since we can do a lot more work in house with a much higher throughput. We’re growing our business by taking on bigger and more diverse types of jobs and turning them around faster because we no longer need to send them out for production.”
The Pro C651EX’s options and capabilities enable the three-employee quick-print shop to perform in-house nearly half of the jobs it used to send out to approved vendors, which was costly for clients and entailed a five-day wait. Minuteman has reduced its percentage of vendor sales from 25 percent to 9 percent.
“We’re excited about the innovative things we can now do not only for our existing clients, but for new, larger-volume clients we now have the capability to serve,” said Kleine. “At the same time, we have regained complete control over our product quality and, therefore, our reputation. That’s the way we like it. Now we can turnaround business cards in 24 hours.”
The shop can now handle the following products, mostly in house: ad books, calendars, 13-inch x 19-inch posters, full colour business envelopes, carbonless forms, business checks, trucking trip sheets, inventory pads, receipts, work orders, stationery, promotional materials, memo pads, business card magnets, flyers, temporary tattoos, brochures, folders, postcard mailers, scratch-off lottery tickets and greeting cards (all of which can be supplemented with custom QR codes).
The combination of the RICOH Pro C651EX’s engine and the EFI Fiery controller ensures exceptionally accurate colour output without compromising productivity. It provides 1200 x 4800 dpi resolution, the highest available, using Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) technology.
The MFP delivers front-to-back registration of +/- 0.5mm sheet to sheet, enhanced by the ability to compensate and program dimensional changes in the media during duplex printing. An innovative liquid-cooled developer system helps maximize uptime without compromising quality by keeping operating temperature consistent even on the longest print runs.
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