Legra delivers customers ‘even more’ following latest investment in raft of KODAK Solutions 

EYSINS, SWITZERLAND - Legra printing house has commissioned Poland’s first digital production color press, the KODAK NEXPRESS SX2700 Digital Production Color Press with a Long Sheet feeder.

The latest KODAK Solution chosen by this rapidly growing Krakow printer, one of Poland’s largest producers of calendars, books and a wide range of printed materials, joins a KODAK MAGNUS Q800 Platesetter, together with KODAK PRINERGY Workflow and KODAK INSITE Prepress Portal Systems. The investment was made on the basis of the successful results achieved on these KODAK Systems.

Market observation

“We pay close attention to the market, and our future investments are always considered in terms of market developments,” explains Tomasz Kostecki, Legra’s spokesman. The declining print runs of books, calendars, printed materials, and even catalogues, does not surprise anyone these days. As a result, Legra printing house needed to find an alternative in order to satisfy its customers, who expect their orders to be of high quality, produced within short lead times and at an attractive price.

“This system, which allows us to print with digital technology and offer value-added options including the option of printing personalized book series, met these expectations. Following our extremely positive experience with the KODAK Equipment we introduced over a year ago, we basically had no doubts as to which digital system to install in our printing house. We always aim high in our investments, and this was no exception. Our chosen KODAK NEXPRESS Press is top of the range in this segment, and the very first trials with this device in our everyday production confirmed our evaluation. Its high quality and productivity are comparable to offset, as is the ability to print more than 800 different types of substrates, with different inks and finishes and support for long sheets (up to a format of 356x914 mm / 14x36 inches), which allows us to produce covers with flaps. These are just some of the benefits of our new equipment.”

Investing in Kodak again

As Kostecki emphasizes, this system is part of a series of investments made by the Krakow printing house that have contributed to its success in a difficult market and opened up a completely new offering for Legra’s clients. “Now, not only can they print their products here, even in small print runs, with guaranteed high quality and attractive prices—which is extremely important when producing books, calendars and catalogues—they can also take advantage of the custom options opened up by the KODAK NEXPRESS Press,” he says.

“This is not just about personalization, which is an immensely important tool—in the case of books, it allows publishers to reach many different audiences through personalized covers, while for calendars it allows the production of smaller print runs aimed at specific audiences, and even the production of personalized calendars for an individual or institution. The KODAK NEXPRESS Press also allows us to print high-quality catalogues and brochures, even in runs of one.

“Additionally, products printed using this device can be specially upgraded, which further distinguishes them. They can be coated with UV varnish, and the press has additional special RGB colours with the KODAK NEXPRESS Fifth Imaging Unit Solutions, which open up the option of PANTONE color reproduction. We also offer our clients the possibility of metallic digital printing.”

The ability to achieve gold effects with the KODAK NEXPRESS Presses was first announced by Kodak at drupa in 2012, and since then has been introduced at several printing houses around the world. Legra recently joined this prestigious group and is the first company in Poland to offer this unique digital printing effect. Legra’s customers can now use gold, for example, as a corporate color or to highlight different elements, even in small print runs such as covers for books, catalogues and other products. “The economics of small-circulation production, as well as the ability to produce a job within short lead times, are also crucial factors for us in this respect,” says Kostecki. “The digital printing special effects opened up by the KODAK NEXPRESS Press technology give us a huge market advantage in comparison with the methods that we previously used for processing foil or conventional embossing.”

A broader offering

“The solutions offered by this press are also allowing us to expand our offering, for example with direct mailing materials, certificates and other materials to which we are now able to give a unique look. We are certain that our clients will appreciate this as well. Although this device has only recently started operating, we are already seeing interest in our new offering from publishers in Poland as well as among our continuously increasing number of customers from other countries. Our capabilities in this area thanks to the KODAK NEXPRESS Press and the other KODAK Solutions previously introduced, are now extremely broad. We believe that this is a great opportunity both for us and our clients, and one that will translate into shared successes, as these principles accompany us in all our investment decisions.”

Olivier Claude, General Manager for Print & Vice President Commercial Business EAMER, Kodak comments, “Legra is keen to develop its market flexibility and the KODAK NEXPRESS SX2700 with its Long Sheet Feeder certainly has a lot to offer. Being the first in the region to invest in the technology will give Legra a head start on its competition and that will enable it to set a high standard of service for current and prospective customers.”