HuigHaverlag Printing is an advanced print service provider based in Wormerveer, just north of Amsterdam, focused on offering excellent print quality and superb service to satisfy the needs of clients operating in the retail sector.
Founded in 1902, the company was taken over in 1995 by the current owner and director, Chris Knip. Having spent 25 years as technical director of three major newspapers in The Netherlands, Chris was fully aware of the importance of hitting deadlines, and applied this philosophy to the retail market with positive results. Since 1902, HuigHaverlag has expanded its team from 30 to 100 employees and grown its turnover from 2.4 to approximately 16 million Euros. In 2002 the company took over 'Haverlag', a print business specialised in high quality commercial printing for advertising agencies, and continuously invested in both offset and digital print technologies to meet its customers' needs.
Chris Knip explains: "In 2000, we started exploring the production of print personalised for each retail shop, and developed our own personalisation software. We also used a variety of digital presses to implement our strategy and a B2 format digital press was the missing link, so we were particularly interested in Fujifilm's Jet Press 720 when we heard about it."
Chris continues: "When we first saw the press in November 2013, we were amazed with the speed and print quality it could deliver, which was notably better than the toner presses we were used to, and signed a deal at Ipex 2014. Last summer, we installed the new second generation of the press, the Jet Press 720S."
HuigHaverlag's plan is to transfer some of the applications currently printed offset to the Jet Press 720S, with the company starting with a single shift and potentially moving to 2 shifts from January 2015. With B2 finishing equipment already being used to finish their offset print, a B2 digital press was the natural next step.
Chris clarifies: "We invested in a Jet Press 720S because of its ability to produce ultra-high quality print, together with its reliability and ease of use. Digital print technologies have traditionally been very time consuming to maintain, but we are confident that the design of the Jet Press 720S, which is based on an offset chassis, will offer higher up-time. We also expect to win more work because of the digital print quality we can now achieve."
HuigHaverlag was also keen to comply with the ISO 12647-2 offset standard, so that whether print is produced on offset presses or the Jet Press 720S, the appearance would match. The investment in Fujifilm's XMF ColorPath colour management software will help the company to maintain colour integrity across different print processes.
One of the applications to be run on the Jet Press 720S is retail pricing cards, with every sheet being different and run lengths of 5,000 to 15,000 sheets being typical. Digitally printing these on a B2 sheet maximises the efficiencies of this process and allows HuigHaverlag to print the pricing tickets in the order they will be used in the shop and also turn the jobs around more quickly, a perfect solution for their retail customers. The press will also be used for a mixture of general high quality commercial print work.
Chris concludes: "We are delighted with our investment, which was the natural development step for our company. The Jet Press 720S has widened our service offering and maximised production efficiencies, and will hopefully give us opportunities to win new business. It is early days, but we have high expectations for the press, and have been delighted with Fujifilm's support so far."
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