Case Studies
PLUS POINTS
Digital specialist is positive about CCM Premier installation
Repropoint Ltd is one of the UK's foremost digital printers, which uses the latest Indigo machines and claims to have the‘largest digital printing capability in the South of England'. It has 5 branches in Portsmouth, Southampton, Woking, Guildford and Heathrow with a combined turnover approaching £10m. While the company is trailblazing new technology and production methods in its print room, there is a challenge when it comes to finishing - without equipment which fits the short-run, high-technology environment while offering reliabile finished quality, the advantages are lost.
As part of an ongoing drive to maintain its finishing capability, Repropoint has just installed a CCM Premier 78 guillotine from UK supplier TCS (Terry Cooper Services) at its Woking headquarters. According to Finishing Supervisor Dave Smithers, the CCM Premier has a key advantage over its well-known rivals. "Some guillotines come with long lists of features, which look great in the brochure, but which in practice never get used," he says. "The CCM Premier machines don't have so many whistles and bells, but they have concentrated on getting the basics right, and in practical terms, this makes them better machines."
An example? "If you look at the task of job programming, the CCM Premier's best known rival expects you to navigate through several screens to set up a job. With the CCM Premier, it's all done on one screen. This might not sound important, but over time it makes a big difference. We taught our operators how to use it in a couple of hours, but we have had to take days over training on similar machines in the past. It's simpler, but that doesn't mean it's inferior, it means the design has been properly thought out."
Mr Smithers continues: "There's another advantage to the CCM Premier which might not immediately grab the attention, but which pays dividends in the long term, and that's reliability. They really take some hammering but they don't break down. All the important safety features are included, such as the latest light barrier technology and full function monitoring, the knife changes are quick and easy, and they are solidly built with durability in mind."
Repropoint has been staying one step ahead of the marketplace since its foundation in 1975 as a supplier of dyeline materials and drafting film. It continues to enjoy a growth rate of around 10% per year. The majority of its workload comes from business-to-business customers requiring quality short run colour work, though the company has trade counters at each of its branches to offer a full high street style service to the general public.