Gosport based Ashford Colour Press Ltd is the first UK book publisher to place an order for a Domino K630i, the high speed compact single-engine duplex ink jet press, whilst attending drupa 2016.

With 132 employees and an annual turnover of £11.5 million, Ashford has been providing print and publishing solutions to their global clients for over 30 years, helping them to manage costs and optimise stock levels whilst at the same time reduce print inventories and warehouse space. In response to changing market conditions, Ashford has invested in digital printing technologies enabling them to successfully meet their clients’ needs for print-on-demand, whether they are producing novels, textbooks, training manuals or periodicals.

Allan Gray, Production Director, at Ashford, explains how he needed a monochrome solution to sit alongside his two existing HP T200 colour ink jet web presses.  “Around a third of our digital print volume is monochrome, so we were looking to acquire a system that would allow us to print this work more cost effectively. The more I looked at the Domino K630i, the more impressed I got,” he says. “It was strong in every area – quality of output, running speed, ease of operation, even down to its compact small footprint.”

He continues: “These benefits made the selection of the Domino K630i an easy decision. We opted for a 150m/min, 558mm print width, duplex, water based system to handle our monochrome production requirements.  I am looking forward to a long and successful partnership with Domino.”

The K630i operates at speeds of up to 150 metres per minute with a 600dpi native resolution and is available in three print widths (333mm, 445mm or 558mm) with simplex and duplex options. For the on-demand book and manuals sector, the near photo quality at high speed offers exceptional return on investment with its small footprint delivering more print per square metre than any other press in its class.

Bryan Palphreyman, Product Manager at Domino’s Digital Printing Solutions Division, comments: “The K630i single engine duplex is unique to the industry for a production press of this class – increasing production floor space availability by at least 50% compared to twin engine devices. We are delighted that Ashford is our first UK customer to recognise these benefits and believe that this is the first step in the development of a long-term relationship with them.”