October 10, 2007 -- The marketing mantra at CCS Printing in Bellevue, Washington is: "Let us be your guide." This summer, the full-service printer guided its customers to the benefits a new ROLAND 500 can provide, adding a six-color-plus-coater model to its pressroom.
"The press is as automated as you can buy in today's market," says Kevin Sullivan, CCS president. "We were looking for a press that would allow us to shave time off each stage of the print process. From plate chemistry and development through plate loading, registration, inking, ink flow controls and plate ejection and wash ups, we chose the ROLAND 500 because it saves us time."
The press' technical innovations were soon translated into marketing benefits at CCS. Supporting that list was the fact that CCS is running the first ROLAND 500 in the Seattle metropolitan area.
"Our sales team jumped on board to begin identifying all the capabilities that we can offer that will enhance our differentiation in the commercial printing market in Seattle," notes Sullivan. "Print quality, color accuracy, calibration between the press and digital proofing workflow, faster turn times, and longer run lengths are just a few of the items we've identified."
The ROLAND 500 is a six-up press, giving it the ability to run circles around conventional 40-inch presses, when it comes to sprinting from job-to-job rapidly. That advantage is significant in a marketplace where shorter runs rule.
"We plan to show how the 500 stacks up against most of the older 40-inch hardware in the market," says Sullivan, "and how our six-up press will actually be faster than most of the eight-ups out there."
As part of its customer commitment, CCS Printing promises to improve the total cost of ownership (TCO) for its clients, That involves managing every aspect of the print project from conception, through production, to delivery and obsolescence. The new ROLAND 500 advances the TCO philosophy by turning jobs around faster.
"We will not use that advantage to undercut the market for price, which would weaken an already fragile marketplace for pricing," Sullivan declares. "Having more capability gives us more control under our roof for scheduling and turn time."
Gary Watson, vice president of manufacturing at CCS, also views the new press as a time machine. "Time is money and the automation of the ROLAND 500 will allow us to set up and run jobs much more efficiently than we have in the past," he says. "And MAN Roland's PowerPrinters classes have been instrumental in showing us exactly how to get the most out of our new press."
CCS Printing has already begun the process of bringing the new press to market. Its sales team is developing "pitch books" which will include samples of work produced on the 500 compared to samples produced on CCS's other offset and digital presses.
"We'll focus on the color-matched proofing from our prepress workflow and also demonstrate the value of grey scale calibration and color accuracy," Sullivan says. "The key is differentiation. There are many opportunities to differentiate ourselves with the ROLAND 500."
CCS also plans to promote the press' ability to handle heavier substrates to capture new applications and new clients. "We expect to break into accounts like Microsoft to produce test runs for retail software packaging," notes Sullivan. "We'll also see a lot more point-of-purchase work with a variety of customers."
In addition to its main plant in Bellevue, CCS operates five satellite facilities, equipped with digital printers, through which customers can access the company. "Our hub and spoke structure makes the transition from one type of equipment to the other transparent to the client," Sullivan explains. "However, the fact that we have this press will allow us to sell a higher quality sheet and turn the work faster which will be the main benefits."
Hybrid offset/digital printing also is on the ROLAND 500's agenda. It will be used in conjunction with digital printers to produce variable data pieces, according to Sullivan. "This market has never grown well for us. It will be interesting to see if the speed of the 500 helps this area."
Meanwhile, the ROLAND 500 is already the favorite of CCS's press operator corps. "All of our press operators have now been through training and came back with rave reviews," notes Gary Watson.
MAN Roland instruction, project management, and overall support all received high marks from Watson: "Having hands-on training with an experienced operator who knows the press inside/out, allowed all of our operators to come back with a thorough understanding of the press and what it is capable of. Many companies can make promises, but the whole MAN Roland team there and here is focused on our success and teaching us how to make it all work."
CCS is officially introducing the press at a "2007 Print Summit," designed to provide practical production knowledge to the company's customers and prospects. MAN Roland is supplying an expert speaker, but the star of the show is CCS's new ROLAND 500. "Anticipation for this press is so high, we had over 50 customers sign up for the event six months ago," says Sullivan.