Easy integration, print quality, and scalability top the list of advantages 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - EarthColor has been in business for more than 30 years, offering a full range of commercial printing services to clients from its six facilities in four states. The company operates a number of offset web presses, and needed a way to add inline personalization capabilities to its existing inline infrastructure. EarthColor recently installed four KODAK VERSAMARK DS6240 Printing Systems in its Florida facility and has been enjoying the performance and quality of output.

With more than 600 employees and a reputation as one of the top printers in the U.S., EarthColor provides advanced prepress, digital and conventional printing, finishing, binding and mailing services. Bruce Wexler, President of EarthColor, takes pride in embracing the latest technology and developing specific solutions to meet the needs of his clients.

“We’ve had a number of solutions from Kodak over the years, and are very excited to have this new system in place now for inline imaging,” said Wexler. “Our clients have been asking for this capability, and after looking at the options in the market, we knew that this was the right fit for our company. With so much demand for personalization today, we needed a solution that would grow with us and give us the quality and flexibility our customers demand. Being able to personalize inline, at offset speeds, is an incredible competitive advantage. Also, it lets us maximize our existing investments in offset.”

EarthColor chose to install four of the 4.27-inch heads and uses them in a variety of ways, depending on the need for the job. Wexler explained: “One of the great things about the VERSAMARK DS6240 Systems is that they are quickly and easily moveable, so we can use them for simplex or duplex personalization, or we can stitch them for a larger personalization area.”

The VERSAMARK DS6240 Printing System is a monochrome 4.27-inch (10.84 cm) head that features resolutions of 240 x 240 dpi at speeds up to 1,000 fpm (300 mpm). It is an extremely flexible, variable data imprinting solution for ticket, tag and label, direct mail, transactional printing, forms, packaging and other commercial printing and spot color applications. It is ideal for personalization, graphics, addressing, barcoding, numbering and logos. Customers can choose from a variety of process colors or PMS colors to suit their production needs. The KODAK CS410 System Controller with WINDOWS 7-based operator interface and integrated data prep software drives the system.

“The move toward personalization is certainly gaining momentum, but many customers don’t necessarily want to give up offset for a fully digital line. A hybrid solution is the perfect answer,” said Kodak’s Jerry Miller, Regional Business Manager, Digital Printing Solutions. “Whether it’s a VERSAMARK Imprinting System or a KODAK PROSPER S-Series Imprinting System, our solutions are designed to meet whatever quality and speed requirements our customers have. As with all KODAK Solutions, scalability is a key factor.”

“Of course we are looking toward the future, and I can see more systems giving us an even bigger advantage,” Wexler claimed. “We intend to expand to four-color personalization. This is a natural progression for the industry—we’re just happy to be out front and giving our clients more options.” One other opportunity that Wexler sees is in data management and analytics. “All this personalization requires a lot of data, and determining the success of a personalized campaign requires an understanding of the metrics. This is a growing opportunity for us.”

EarthColor is using the VERSAMARK DS6240 Printing System for a lot of self-mailers and expects to add other applications in the near future. Perhaps most importantly, the sales team at EarthColor has fully embraced the new capability and is excited about being able to offer the service to clients. Business is growing—not just with additional volume from existing clients—but also with new clients hearing about the inline personalization capability.