Turnaround demands are tighter than ever in an ‘on-demand world’, the need for top quality at low prices is at a peak and zero wastage is the watchword of printers across the UK. With these trends in mind, Duplo has been working tirelessly in its effort to fight prints corner with its range of newly upgraded multi-finishers.
Making sure your print business is lean, fit and punching above its weight has become critical to remaining in the ring – more so than ever due to the economic disruption caused by the pandemic.
No inch of production floor space can be redundant and making sure that the margin on every piece of print that passes through a roller is maximised, has become paramount.
In addition, the pressure to say ‘yes’ to customers when they ask for complex ‘little and often’ short-run work has increased – while at the same time print businesses are keenly aware of the need to be intensely creative as they work to add new levels of value and vibrancy to every printed piece.
Another really important trend is that print businesses now need to rely on operators that may not have come up through the ranks, and so require technology that is more automated and requires less skill to use. And at the same time, they may see a dip in work one day, only to have 50 short-run jobs need completing the next – playing strongly into the playing field of digital print and the strengths of multi-finishers.
These are not facts that have never been lost on print finishing technology developer and manufacturer Duplo International. Since it started developing finishing machinery that could cope with the variability of digital print in the 1980s – before working hand in glove with global printing press manufacturers in the 1990s to cater for the wave of new digital printing systems – it has always focussed on its watchwords of ‘automated precision’.
A PRECISE EQUATION
The more accurately you can finish a piece of print, and the more processes you can perform on it within a single machine, then the less wastage there will be and the higher your overall productivity will become.
Indeed, in what has now become a legendary piece of video testimony, Duplo proved the point in 2011 when its customer Lefa Print ran a controlled production test of a Duplo DC5654e digital multi-finisher (which could inline slit, cut, crease, perf and fold), versus a traditional print and finishing workflow.
Processing four standard short run jobs, Lefa Print proved in a real time test they were saving 6 minutes per batch. Overall this meant a 35% productivity hike across a week’s work. It is still impressive, and you can check it out at HERE.
The trends that have been accelerated by the Pandemic were already in existence ten years ago for Lefa Print, and the reason why Duplo has focussed so much of its research and development might in this product sector is because – in order to remain profitable and grow – print businesses can make the biggest gains by simply producing more work, in a greater variety, with less floor space.
AN INTENSE FOCUS
Neil Scott, Showroom Manager, Duplo International, explains this has been the driving force for the development of its new range of multi-finishers – the DC-618, 646 and 746: “The number one topic of conversation with customers today is about automation. The big appeal is that our multi-finisher range not only allows them to cater for multiple operations in one compact area, but it also means they can rely on an operator that perhaps does not have a print background to run these systems.
“If they are working in confined spaces or can’t have all the staff in at one time, it also allows them to continue to cater for a much more diverse range of work profitability.”
With more than 20 years in digital print, Neil has worked in variety of print environments and explains that, from the outset, Duplo’s key stride forward was that it offered print businesses cast-iron.
