Inkjet & Digital Printing

Drayton Press on path to achieving cross media ambitions with Ricoh Pro C751

Thursday 15. November 2012 - Drayton Press, based near Heathrow, is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year.

Having enjoyed additional sales from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympic Games, the company is now benefitting following the incorporation of another local company, GAIA Services (formerly a kallkwik outlet), into its group – which already comprises Uxbridge Press and Drayton Gifts, the group’s office supplies and promotional merchandise divisions.
To mark the occasion, DRAYTON, as the company is better known, has invested in a new website for its printing division – www.DraytonPress.co.uk – as well as additional equipment including a large format scanner, binding and finishing equipment, and a couple of digital printers, including a high speed Pro C751 cut-sheet colour digital press from Ricoh UK.
The Ricoh production printer went live on Monday 17th September, replacing two aging Oce machines. Chief Executive Piers Miles says, “There is a vast improvement in quality and speed obtained through the Ricoh machine. It is now taking on much of the work once printed on our 4 colour litho Presstek DI press. The quality is simply staggering.”
Miles’ next target is to fully integrate the press into its web-to-print setup before developing a range of cross media services. “The introduction of the Ricoh machine will see unprecedented efficiencies in our web to print offering and opens new doors in terms of marketing new services such as Augmented Reality and Cross media capabilities. We already provide customers with marketing materials and merchandise for events and campaigns, so being able to manage the PURLs and emails that run parallel to this in one place, was the missing link for us. Our job is to increase the effectiveness of our clients’ marketing campaigns and a solid high quality digital print engine like the Ricoh Pro C751 helps us do just that.”
The flexibility of the machine will allow DRAYTON to print onto synthetic papers and card of up to 350gsm. This, together with other new substrates for its other devices, has seen personalised wallpaper, soft touch laminate film, metal business cards and papers impregnated with plant seeds introduced to the range during the past month, meaning the company can now brand a client’s details or message onto nearly any medium.
The Ricoh Pro C751 is an important investment for Drayton Press and the company explored the market thoroughly before committing, putting various solutions through rigorous testing using its own demo files. The Ricoh stood out due to its superior registration (a major consideration), image quality and solid colours, even when printing solid black across SRA3 size sheets.
“The registration was so important for us because the Ricoh will be taking some work off of our offset presses to help save money on short run jobs. We put the machine through its paces on textured stock and stock outside of its specification range and it performed strongly. The colour is fantastic and only a trained eye could distinguish the final result from litho,” says Miles.
Drayton Press offers creative design, printing and innovative merchandising services to large marketing departments, providing anything from a simple business card through to laser engraved awards, printed confectionary, garments and 100,000plus other products to clients from industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals, hotels, food companies, manufacturing, education, nightclubs and restaurants. The diverse range of products and services are used by clients to support events, conferences/seminars, campaigns and product launches. As well as the Ricoh digital press DRAYTON has litho, screen, transfer, engraving and wide format production equipment and a full-range of finishing kit.
Stephen Palmer, Production Print Director, Ricoh UK: “It’s great to see Drayton Press making a strategic investment in Ricoh with one eye on the future of cross media. Drayton Press has already proved its entrepreneurial spirit by readily embracing the internet and integrating it into its business. We agree with Piers that integrating print within wider cross-media communication campaigns is the best way to expand into profitable new services and strengthen client relationships – a fact reflected in our growing portfolio of hardware, software and business services and the recent investment in PTI Marketing Technologies. As such, Ricoh is excited to be joining Drayton Press on the next stage of its journey from print service provider to cross media marketing services provider.”
The Ricoh Pro C751 is a 75ppm light production cut-sheet digital colour press. It can process substrates up to 350gsm and its modular design allows for the addition and combination of a range of options, including: stapling, ring-binding, hole punching, a new multi-folding unit, large capacity input trays, 100-sheets staple finisher, booklet-maker, stacker, GBC StreamPunch ProEX and Plockmatic booklet maker. Drayton Press opted for a booklet maker on its Pro C751