Roden Print & Packaging

A lithographic printer since 1973, Roden Print & Packaging is embracing digital with the help of Ricoh's Pro C7100X digital print system.

Veteran printer and managing director of Sydney-based Roden Print & Packaging, Phil Roden has a long history in the printing industry. Roden attributes the businesses' longevity to the expertise of his 12 person team, and also investment in quality machines.

Traditionally a general lithographic printer, the business has been immersed in digital printing for the past decade, and last year it replaced an existing outdated digital printer with the Ricoh Pro C7100X digital print system. Roden says he was looking for a simple but speedy solution, and Ricoh came up with the solution. Being a small to medium size business, Roden Print & Packaging like to meet customers requests quickly. Highly productive for its class, the Ricoh Pro C7100X series deliver print speeds of up to 90 ppm, and supports papers weights of up to 360gsm in both simplex and duplex.

By replacing its outdated digital printer with the Ricoh Pro C7100X, Roden Print & Packaging can fill short-run, rush jobs faster and more cost effectively, with no compromise on image quality. This agile and economical service gives them the competitive edge over bigger print players.

A dramatic change for the better

Roden believes the Pro C7100X has "changed the business dramatically" due reduced set up procedure costs and removal of the need to make plates. Due to its cost-effectiveness, the company mostly uses the Pro C7100X for short run print jobs such as brochures, leaflets and packaging trade samples in sets as small as 20. The trade samples are used by the sales representative clients to show off a particular packaged product to prospective customers. Roden adds, "We can print trade samples economically, printing small quantities is really where your digital printer comes in handy."

Investing in quality

According to Ricoh the Pro C7100X has precise sheet-to-sheet and front-to-back registration achieved with mechanical registration and a self contained liquid cooling system that keeps the developer at a constant temperature and minimises disruptions in extended production runs.

Raj Chandiok, national sales manager - production print of Ricoh Australia says as graphic arts businesses seek to remain competitive, profitable and add value to their customers, it is essential that they have the right tools to meet the market demand. "By adding the Pro C7100X digital press to their workflows, they can boost returns on investment, expand digital print services, and promise exceptional image quality to customers with fast turnaround times," Chandiok says. "The ability to apply spot or flood clear gloss and white, and to quickly switch between the two, is unprecedented at this price point. We believe this will be a game changer for Ricoh customers."

Packaging as well as digital are two areas of the print industry that actually have growth, a lot of the general commercial printing is now being taken over by digital.

Roden says the business delved into packaging and digital due to the exponential growth both markets have experienced over the past few years, however commercial print still contributes 10 to 15 per cent of all jobs at Roden. "Packaging as well as digital are two areas of the print industry that actually have growth, a lot of the general commercial printing is now being taken over by digital," he says. "Over the past 10 years digital printing has boomed and the machinery and technology has become sophisticated."

"The Ricoh prints excellent quality." Roden says "The service has been fantastic, this is our fourth digital machine and it has been the most trouble free machine we have bought. From day one it ran well and there is a minimum amount of servicing required by the machine."