Cimpress laid claim to be the biggest spender at Drupa with deals announced with Landa, HP and Ricoh on print technology. Deals with finishing suppliers, if any, have not been announced.
The widespread spending made CEO Robert Keane one of the most photographed executives at the show, posing for shots at each of the major deals. The company has not announced which of its production sites will enjoy the benefit of the investment. These include Tradeprint in Dundee.
The deal with Landa revives a partnership first announced at Drupa in 2016. It covers an unannounced number of presses, though three are expected to be supplied this year.
Benny Landa says that at the time “we weren’t ready and we couldn’t meet the requirement Cimpress had”. That requirement has now been met, triggering the revival of the partnership.
For Keane the visit to Drupa is necessary to keep up with the innovation “that drives the industry forwards”. He adds: “Cimpress is the biggest short run printer in the world with 50 million customer jobs a year with all orders received online. We have many digital presses across Europe, North America, Brazil, India and Australia and will spend $15 million a year in capex.
“We have been testing and working with Landa over the last eight years. Now we consider that nanography is a mature and robust technology.”
Landa will therefore meet Cimpress’s needs for a B1 digital press. Its B2 requirements will be met through a fleet of the latest generation HP Indigo 120K presses. It aims to “purchase multiple units to enhance its fleet over the coming periods” says HP, without detailing how many machines this covers. It does, however, continue a relationship that stretches back 20 years to the formative years of the online print business.
It continuous feed inkjet partner has been Canon through a partnership announced in August 2021. That included agreement to supply machines to multiple locations, inclusing a recent installation of an iX3200 at Tradeprint in Dundee.
At Drupa Keane signed up for a Ricoh VC80000 its latest continuous feed press. There is currently just one press in this order. It will be supplied to VistaPrint, but the site is not identified. Cimpress runs a number of Ricoh C9500 toner presses across its European operations.
