Xeikon 9800 Investment Supports Spontaneous, Efficient And Cost Effective Print Volumes

Itasca, Illinois – Colorfx, a Des Moines, Iowa-based print and marketing services company, has expanded its commitment to Xeikon technology with the order of a Xeikon 9800.

The dry toner-based digital color press will join a Xeikon 8800 installed in 2013 to increase Colorfx’s production volume of cost-effective variable data pieces.

Colorfx specializes in creating and executing multichannel marketing communications and direct marketing programs for its clients. With the Xeikon 8800 it broadened its digital print-on-demand services to include more full-color personalized pieces, such as direct mail, brochures and inserts.

"There were a couple of main factors in our decision to invest in this new press," said Harry Matternas, General Manager of Colorfx. "The first was being cost competitive in the marketplace and the second was increasing our capacity in variable digital color printing to meet increasing customer demand.

Drive to personalization

“We drove volume and work to the Xeikon 8800 and the number of customers that saw the potential and benefits of that equipment increased. It lets them send personalized messages to their customers very, very quickly. We are seeing a drive to personalization that differentiates communications in the market place. That differentiation is really important now. So, we knew we had a book of business and we wanted to make that book more competitive and sell additional volume to that platform.” 

The capabilities of Xeikon’s technology supports Colorfx’s operational ethos: “One of our USPs (Unique Selling Points) is our response times. People dream it up today and want it tomorrow. One of our greatest capabilities is to be able to turn on a dime for our customer’s needs. We focus on working with each one individually. Social media and instant messaging are promoting quicker communications. Customers, too, want faster turnaround campaigns. They are under increased pressure to come up with something and get it out faster. We always work with them to meet their scheduling requirements and the new press will give us more flexibility to do that.

“Customer’s almost always tell us they are under pressure. The digital world allows spontaneity. When they create a multi-channel campaign they don’t want to hear that a print component is going to take longer. Customers continue to say they have good results with direct mail and having that component is important but it has to be done in a timely and coordinated way. With Xeikon technology the whole program can be kept synchronized. The ability to deliver variable digital messaging is getting more cost effective year over year. The equipment is faster and more cost effective to run.”

Best Fit

Despite having a Xeikon press reinvestment in the technology was not a foregone conclusion says Matternas: “We definitely looked at other solutions. We considered presses from the breadth of the industry from inkjet to toner based, cut sheet to roll-to-sheet. Xeikon was the best fit for us. We liked its cost to operate, flexibility of the product in terms of fit within our world, the quality of the product and our understanding of it.

“The ability to operate in a multichannel environment and blend those channels effectively is only going to increase,” says Matternas. “As a result our focus will only continue and grow and the press best positions us for that.

“Reliability, quick turnaround and flexibility is what our customers want most. The press is dependable and robust. It can take a lot of volume and deliver consistently on a day in, day out, basis and that is important to us. It works well within our workflow and ensures we help customers meet their deadlines. When they give us a job we want to be able to keep the commitment and working with Xeikon ensures we can.”

The 70 feet per minute Xeikon 9800 digital color press delivers reduced consumables cost. It underlines Xeikon’s heritage of innovation in digital print technology and can print on a wide range of untreated substrates ranging from 40gsm to 350gsm. Its uniquely adapted Xeikon QA-CD toner and Xeikon’s high-quality imaging system deliver a print resolution of 1200x3600 with variable dot density. Integrated with the variable data capabilities of the Xeikon X-800 front-end, this press is perfectly suited for high-end direct marketing work. Available QA-CD toners include CMYK, Red, Green, Blue, Extra Magenta and SuperBlack as well as White and Clear (UV reflecting) toner. Upon request, Xeikon can also provide special colors specified by print production operations and their brand owner clients.

Effective Payback

Matternas concludes: “We know the new press will give us a reasonably effective payback timeframe. It is slightly faster, it can handle a wide range of substrates and the fifth colour option allows us to add spot colors.

“We pride ourselves on staying on the leading edge of technology in order to stay competitive in the market space. This investment was a good decision for operations as well as sales. It definitely positions us better for the future. We focus on making dollars and cents decisions and this was a very good on dollars to cents decision for us.”