GI SOLUTIONS, ONE OF THE FIRST companies to invest in continuous feed inkjet printing, is buying a new generation of presses. The first of two HP T230s has been installed at the Leicester company with a second due for installation in August. Beyond that says deputy managing director Patrick Headley, an HP T400 is under consideration.
The investment is a change from the Screen TruePress platform which GI Solutions has been running since 2008. These remain place and will continue in operation says Headley. “We probably know more about continuous inkjet than any other printer in the country,” he says. “The new HP inkjet technology is fantastic.”
THE LIFE OF THE HP HEADS HAS BEEN extended and the ink improved to deliver the extra quality and impact that the market has been looking for with a transition to inkjet printing. Headley likens it to the transition from letterpress to litho, made possible when four colour separations became readily available. “People said litho wasn’t quite the same as letterpress, not quite the same quality, but the availability of colour made litho acceptable.
“Now people are using inkjet, it’s not quite the same as litho but in reality the difference is acceptable and the opportunity to produce variable print is the key factor.”
GI SOLUTIONS EXAMINED THE OPTIONS before committing to HP, the clincher being a trip to the r&d centre in San Diego. “They are a partner for life,” he says, “and we fell very comfortable with the way that have treated us.” The heavyweight construction of the T230 and HP’s other presses also appealed.
The investment comes as the company has launched a CMC envelope wrapper to produce what it calls the world’s first Digital Envelope mail pack. Two inkjet printed reels combine on the CMC equipment to offer personalised envelopes, combining mailings for different brands to achieve maximised postal discounts. The CMC can apply cards and up to six selectable inserts at 20,000 C5 envelopes an hour.
THE HP T230 IS A FOUR-COLOUR 20in wide inkjet web press designed with a more compact footprint than other machines in the T series. It was launched at Ipex 2010 as the T200. The T400 that will be the next investment for GI Solutions prints on a double width web.
GI Solutions has reorganised the factory space to accommodate the first machine and make space for the second. It has also take on a further factory unit to give the company 140,000sq ft in all.
With the arrival of the second T230 in the summer, it will bring the population of these machines in Leicester to four as neighbouring printer OTM is already using two of the presses.
