Inhouse sets up digital haven

Queensland printer Inhouse Print & Design is kitting out its new factory space with a stack of digital printers in a bid to sustainably increase its capacity – with wide format and variable data looking promising for future growth.

Richard Tillotson, print production manager with Inhouse, says moving into the new custom-built site in Underwood, Brisbane, has not only doubled the amount of floorspace, giving the business room to grow, but has also improved workflow by housing all machinery on one level.

The company’s nine staff previously had to move from floor to floor and even between buildings as its equipment outgrew the original Underwood premises. Inhouse is a fan of investing in new machinery when it can see a clear commercial gain – it now hosts two Ricoh Pro C901 presses and two Canon 6000 presses for high volume digital work, which work alongside its finishing and wide format fleet.

Tillotson tells Australian Printer, “We had our latest Ricoh Pro C901 installed at the end of 2013 to ease the load on the first one. We have now just about blown the capacity on each of them. We probably print between 3,000 to 5,000 perfect bound books a week, similar for saddle stitch, as well as all our general printing – flyers, brochures, business cards.

“As the work has grown for particular types of product we have looked at machinery that will give us room to grow our capacity before we are fully booked. With the two Ricohs we didn’t imagine we would grow the capacity so quickly, but the fact that they produce the work so quickly is now bringing us more work. We are turning jobs around so quickly here now, and we are getting a reputation for that. As a result people are coming back to us with bigger and better jobs.”

In the wide format area the firm invested in a new Roland LEJ 640 UV hybrid machine and plotter cutter, and for finishing it now runs a three-way trimmer, perfect binder and two new Eurofold creasing and folding machines.

The arrival of the Roland flatbed has meant a reduction of labour costs, says Tillotson – and operators are enjoying the ability to print straight onto substrates like corflute and glass. He adds that cost reductions like this have enabled Inhouse to continue to offer affordable prices, and growing the business has given it better buying power to absorb the increasing cost of essentials like paper.

Alongside wide format, Tillotson sees good opportunities in variable data printing. He says, “People are now tailoring their promotional material, making it more personal, and that is how we are educating our customers – we say, if your marketing doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t work for us either because you won’t be back. That is how we try and work with our customers, and it seems to provide results.

“We are focused on print rather than digital, so we try and make our customers’ printing work with whatever other digital solutions they might have, like QR codes and websites, and use the best print to drive traffic online.”

Tillotson is optimistic about the future of print – and digital printing in particular. He says, “We are here to grow with businesses and help businesses grow. Every day they are bringing out new features and formats for digital printing. Slowly but surely we assimilate the best bits of that technology, when we can see the benefits.

“There’s still a lot of meat on the bone in this industry. We offer affordable printing, but we price ourselves so we can still make enough money to grow the business. There is lots of room for growth in the printing industry.”

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