Business News
Ideal Printers Adds Océ VarioPrint 6160 Ultra Systems for Automated Kitting to Help Customer Reduce Costs
Wednesday 29. September 2010 - Anticipated customer savings of up to 20 percent with on-demand production
Océ, an international leader in digital document management and delivery, today announced that Ideal Printers has acquired two Océ VarioPrint 6160 Ultra systems to achieve more productive, integrated workflow for customers’ complex kitting applications.
Ideal Printers President Larry Vaughn saw an opportunity to use automated kitting to improve production of a specialized application for an important manufacturing client. From their previous experience with an Océ VarioPrint 6250 system, Ideal Printers knew they could count on the digital platform for reliability and horsepower.
“By reducing costs and being more efficient, print service providers can deliver more value to their customers, and the Océ solutions help us do this,” said Vaughn. “As with many industries today, our clients are trying to run more efficiently. Inventory obsolescence and waste are critical issues for our customers, so managing inventory and warehousing efficiently is increasingly important.”
With the Océ VarioPrint 6000 system, Ideal Printers has gone from printing thousands of copies on an offset press to producing just what is needed on demand. Clients don’t incur the operational cash outlay to carry inventory. While the on-demand program is in its early stages, Ideal Printers anticipates a savings of 15 to 20 percent for clients currently using the program.
Customized application requires multiple substrates
The Ideal Printers kitting application requires multiple substrates and forms. The Océ VarioPrint 6000 platform offers multiple input drawers, so each substrate can be pulled on demand without operator intervention. Now Ideal Printers can collate, print, stitch, add documents, and pull white or color card stock for each individual set.
Daily orders can vary from as few as 100 kits to as many as 2,000. Depending on the request, each multi-page document ranges from eight to 16 pages, and each kit can have from six to nine different components, including specific forms and tabs. Each customized kit prints fully assembled. Clients can also easily edit information or make changes to kits without creating obsolete inventory. With integrated workflow and inline kitting, the Océ VarioPrint 6160 Ultra system reduces labor on every order. Vaughn estimates labor savings will be 15 percent after the first year.
The success of the digital workflow for this application has also helped Ideal Printers shift business from offset presses to their digital Océ systems. As a result, the company has reduced its equipment footprint and sold one dedicated offset press that was no longer needed. Standards-based Océ PRISMA workflow software made it easier to integrate the offset workflow without loss of productivity.
“The Océ machine is also very reliable, and this is one reason we have so many Océ systems in our digital center,” explained Vaughn. Ideal Printers has an Océ VarioStream 7550 twin continuous feed system, an Océ VarioPrint 2110 cutsheet engine and now three engines from the Océ VarioPrint 6000 series. “Océ service is also outstanding. Their proactive approach keeps us up and running and increases our confidence in our ability to serve our customers,” he added. Uptime is consistently reliable across all the Océ cutsheet and continuous feed technology systems at Ideal Printers.
Strong black and white opportunity
In addition to the on-demand kitting applications, Ideal Printers provides short run black and white output for on demand books, forms and business collateral. “Demand for black and white output remains solid, with strong potential for more,” Vaughn noted. “Black and white printing retains its value because it’s used every day for many applications that make businesses run.” Current research indicates that, although the U.S. production printing and copying market is trending towards color, monochrome pages will still represent a substantial portion of printed materials in the future.
“Océ designed the Océ VarioPrint family to help commercial printers and graphic arts customers maximize the value in the black and white printing opportunity through reliability, migration path, and cost-efficiency,” Vaughn continued. “With black and white workflow enabled by Océ PRISMA software and automation, we can provide high caliber service to our customers.”
Océ supports customers’ business development needs
In addition to Océ printing systems and service, Vaughn and Ideal Printers has also benefited from attending the Océ Business Plan Workshop. Delivered in partnership with Winters Group and Associates, the workshop is part of the Océ Graphic Arts Professional Services portfolio. It is designed as an intensive one-day program to establish a business plan and strategy for service providers to begin the transformation to offering marketing services.
“This workshop was all about advancing our business model and offering sophisticated, systematic services to our clients. We explored strategies to win business from marketing executives by solving their business objectives. These workshops help make you aware of opportunities. Ideas come from both the Océ team, and other attendees, because we all have the same issues and goals,” said Vaughn.
“We are committed not just to providing the best equipment, but also helping our customers maximize the value of each system. We are committed to forming partnerships with our customers like Ideal Printers to help them take on new applications with productive, profitable results. We look at the total picture of each customer’s business and support them through our technology as well as our knowledge and experience. With this approach, we have helped many graphic arts customers grow their businesses,” said Eric DeGoeijen, Vice President, Marketing, Océ North America, Production Printing Systems division.