Inkjet & Digital Printing

Original Impressions Commissions Screen Truepress Jet520 to Expand Focus on Personalized Print Products

Monday 16. September 2013 - Original Impressions has seen the future, and it is continuous-feed inkjet printing. A pioneer in commercial printing and marketing communications, Original Impressions knows when the time has arrived for a major technology move. All signs pointed to now as the right time. In July 2013, the Miami-based firm became the latest company with a printing operation to begin outputting game-changing jobs on the Screen Truepress Jet520.

“Original Impressions continuously looks for innovative ways to bring increased value to our clients where others can’t or simply don’t,” said Roland B. Garcia, Sr., founder and CEO. “Inkjet technology is an impressive alternative to traditional digital and offset color printing for many demanding client applications. The quality level, two-sided printing capabilities and ability to personalize documents are three factors that make the Truepress Jet520 more suitable for producing books on demand, long-run catalogs and personalized marketing materials. Rather than turn clients away, we decided to invest now and bring in those jobs to meet the needs of existing and prospective clients.”
Garcia’s business has thrived because the underlying growth model is grounded in listening and responding to clients’ needs and bringing online those services that integrate into the company’s full suite of services. Original Impressions opened its doors in 1982 with 12 employees, combining design, graphics and print services in one streamlined schedule with unmatched single point accountability. Clients wanted more — much more — so Garcia obliged, methodically adding employees and manufacturing space to support newly launched services.
Today, Original Impressions is one of South Florida’s leading minority-owned printers, as well as the region’s largest offset and specialized digital print provider. The company payroll fluctuates from 180 to more than 190 employees, depending upon the time of year (such as during the health insurance open enrollment season, when Original Impressions is at its busiest generating benefits directories). Several buildings located within one block of each other make up the 98,000-square-foot corporate campus.
Original Impressions’ broad service menu boasts creative design, printing, website development, strategic marketing consulting, mailing and fulfillment. With two-, five- and six-color offset presses, direct-to-press process and online ordering, Original Impressions caters to banking, beverage, casual dining, cosmetics, healthcare, hospitality and quick service restaurant verticals, among others.
“We chose the Truepress Jet520 after a thorough review of the roll-fed inkjet presses available,” Garcia said. “It was the only system that satisfied all of our criteria.”
The roll-fed paper feeding system gives users the flexibility to handle high-speed and high-volume variable print runs. The dual-engine duplex printing arrangement enables Original Impressions to place unique messages and full-color images on statements and direct mail at very competitive prices for small runs or quantities up to several million pieces.
“Automatic inspection systems on both of the print engines detect any defects on the front and back of the paper at high speed,” said Henry Herrera, vice president of operations. “Errors automatically stop the printing process, and the operator is alerted. Authenticated data is extremely important to us, as we print a significant number of personalized statements with many variable touchpoints. Having a checks-and-balances system like the Screen Truepress Jet520 offers is critical to our work.”
Previously, Original Impressions relied on digital devices to imprint variable data in black and white on preprinted offset shells.
“When we started researching inkjet systems a little over a year ago, we initially considered black-and-white devices to be able to personalize the text pages of enrollment books,” Herrera said. “It became clear pretty quickly that the color aspect was necessary in order to open up the gamut of projects that we could print for clients. Adding color meant we could turn around products on demand and reduce the cost of labor and inventory.”
The Truepress Jet520 features piezo drop-on-demand inkjet printhead arrays and water-based inks. This versatile press produces quality color results on an ever-expanding range of substrates, from general-purpose paper to gloss-coated and matte-coated stock.
“For most of our projects, we typically run 32-pound paper up to 80-pound cover stock,” Herrera noted. “We are working with paper vendors to identify the substrates that print the best quality and offer the best price point.”
Original Impressions’ Truepress Jet520 prints at the rate of 420 feet per minute, its output ready for near-line finishing. To simplify the operation, the press is configured with inline perfing and stacking equipment and near-line systems for saddle stitching and perfect binding.
“The Truepress Jet520 delivers book blocks at the end of the print cycle,” Herrera said. “Our main goal is to print material at the lowest cost available taking into account the machine’s capital investment, service and operation. When there is an order for 1,000 books containing 300 pages, the Truepress Jet520 supports real on-demand production.”
The company was attracted to the Truepress Jet520 because it is priced like an offset press, with no click charges.
“Under Screen’s pricing options, we purchase consumables as needed and are responsible for maintenance and repair on the press,” Herrera said. “Screen trained our staff to troubleshoot problems. If any major issues arise, we always have Screen for backup and support.”