Early entry into the digital printing area proved challenging for Swan Press Northampton but eight years on, replacing that technology with a Linoprint C 751 from Heidelberg has created an easy to use press that produces good quality and creates new business.
"We recognised that Ricoh were coming through strongly in digital and when we found that Heidelberg had adopted that technology for the Linoprint and were working closely in partnership with Ricoh it was too good a scenario to turn away," says Andrew Boddington, managing director.
"Our offset presses and most of our finishing machines are from Heidelberg and we knew that they didn't over-promise. In fact they've undersold it. The Linoprint is proving far more versatile than we expected and the quality is first rate. It has been an excellent investment."
Finding that some buyers still have a poor perception of digital printing, Swan Press sometimes offers them the chance to see a one off sample of how their job would look if printed on the Linoprint and this has often been persuasive.
Mr Boddington says there is no automatic run length which determines if the job goes digital or litho; other factors are the timescales involved, the suitability of the design and the finishing processes required.
The company likes the fact that consumables and servicing is included in the monthly fee, meaning there are no surprises and it knows the exact cost per sheet.
"Digital has certainly opened up new doors for us. Before we either struggled with our slow digital equipment or we placed work out but now we can compete cost-effectively and deliver super fast, high quality work. Some of our customers are even specifying digital specifically," says Mr Boddington.
The Northampton company handles work for a number of prestige customers including local authorities and several blue chip clients.