Inkjet & Digital Printing
Custom Textbooks Created on the New HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press Help Reduce Costs and Improve Instruction
Friday 22. January 2010 - Challenge: Mercury Print Productions wanted to add the latest digital print technology to its fleet to grow its business in the educational publishing market.
Solution
The new HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press enables Mercury to cost-effectively produce high-volume, short-run variable data jobs with fast turnaround times, and using lighter-weight substrates.
Mercury can also stream high-volume, highly complex customised jobs directly to its HP Indigo press using the HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server.
Results
Mercury has experienced a 200 percent increase in productivity and a 50 percent decrease in maintenance hours per page printed since using HP Indigo digital technology.
Mercury is also able to reduce the environmental impact of its printing while reducing costs for its customers.
The boost in capabilities and improved reliability has helped Mercury become a leading producer of customised materials for the educational publishing market.
Making the grade in educational publishing
As public schools across the US strive to improve education for all students, the needs of individual states, districts and schools become apparent. Mercury Print Productions found a way to address these needs by creating customised textbooks with the new HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press.
“Because of the No Child Left Behind Act, a school’s funding is somewhat dependent on students’ test scores,” explains Christian Schamberger, vice president of operations, Mercury Print Productions. “The ability to customise textbooks to ensure students learn what they need to can help improve test scores and secure the school’s funding.”
Mercury works with educational publishing companies to create versioned textbooks, teacher’s editions and supplemental materials. Thanks to the high-volume capabilities, streamlined workflow and versatility of the HP Indigo W7200, Mercury can offer high-quality, customised materials to meet its clients’ specific needs quickly and cost-effectively.
Since adding its new HP Indigo press, Mercury has experienced a 200 percent increase in productivity, and maintenance hours per page printed have decreased by 50 percent.
High-capacity workhorses
Mercury installed its first HP Indigo digital press in 2006 and recently added the HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press to its digital fleet, which includes two HP Indigo press w3250s, two HP Indigo press ws4500s and an HP Indigo press 5500.
“The image quality of the HP Indigo digital presses is top-notch, and the reliability is outstanding,” Schamberger says. “These machines are workhorses. We run 24/7, so reliable equipment is critical. With the additional capacity and speed enhancements that the HP Indigo W7200 offers, we have been able to reduce our turnaround times.”
At speeds of 240 full-colour letter-size pages per minute, 480 two-colour pages per minute and 960 one-colour pages, the HP Indigo W7200 produces more than 7.5 million colour pages or 30 million monochrome pages per month. It also supports an image format up to 317 x 980mm for more efficient page imposition and media use.
Efficiency from end to end
The HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press prints high-quality variable data jobs at close to twice the speed of other presses and offers enhanced efficiency throughout the workflow.
“In this economy, more and more of our customers are waiting until a product is on back order before they restock. Needless to say, we are condensing our schedules to satisfy the back orders,” Schamberger says. “Any time that we can take out of this process makes a big difference.”
The HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server is a powerful digital front end solution that offers faster, more reliable raster image processing (RIPing), allowing Mercury to stream high-volume, highly complex variable data jobs directly to the press. The company saves even more time with the finishing solution available through HP’s partnership with Hunkeler AG.
“The ability to trim each job immediately as it comes off the press eliminates the need for offline trimming in the bindery,” Schamberger says. “By removing the offline cutting operations, we are reducing the cycle time of the product, as well as the cost associated with the additional operations. This translates into savings.”
More options, less waste
Large artwork files produce heavy textbooks, which can be expensive for customers and burdensome for students. The HP Indigo W7200 Digital Press gives Mercury the flexibility to print on a variety of media, including lighter-weight stocks, that can produce thinner textbooks and save costs.
Without compromising productivity, the HP Indigo W7200 can support substrates with thicknesses from 40 – 350 gsm roll-to-roll and 40 – 350 gsm roll-to-sheet, including coated, uncoated and recycled stock.
While media options have gone up, the amount of waste created by the printing process has gone down. Shorter, more targeted print runs and in-line trimming mean less wastage. The new image oil recycling system helps further reduce oil consumption and waste.
A lasting partnership
As more educators recognise the value of customised curricula, Schamberger sees tremendous growth opportunities, both in Mercury’s business and in its relationship with HP.
“We try to offer our customers a complete solution as a one-stop shop. HP as a technology provider offers solutions for all aspects of our business,” he says. “It’s been a valuable relationship and one of the driving forces for our growth as a company.”