Duplo Equips College Finishing And Litho Centres

With a donation of GBP140,000 worth of digital and traditional finishing equipment Duplo International has continued its commitment to the future of the UK printing industry.

The equipment has been given to the London College of Communication (LCC) and it completes the college's new digital printing services from its new Xerox/Duplo Suite.

The Duplo systems include a near-line bookletmaking system, comprising the DSF-2000 sheet feeder, the Slit, Cut, Crease (SCC) module and the DBM-500T trimmer and bookletmaker.

In addition, Duplo has also provided a DC-645 Production Colour Finisher to demonstrate to students the more creative, flexible digital finishing options now available.

Duplo has also provided equipment to the College's lithographic print area, including a DF-1000 folder, a DFC-10 friction collator, a Sure Topic laminator and Ideal Guillotine, as well as staff training and continuing technical support.

Commenting on the donation from Duplo, Les Claridge, the associate dean of the school of print and publishing, said: "Whilst we already possess print finishing kit at the college, the Duplo commitment allows for further opportunities to develop a finishing system that adds value to student's studies and offers the school a highly-prized additional facility.

This will allow for the development of a wide range of student centred services and systems that demonstrate creativity and a strong sense of commercial reality." He added: "The Duplo equipment complements our existing Xerox Docucolor print engine, enabling us to show a fully digital on-demand workflow capable of handling the growing demands of digital variable data print, from start to finish." Duplo said that the partnership with the LCC follows a six month initiative introduced by the dean of the college, Sue Pandit, who has been instrumental in working with printing industry leaders that are committed to educating the future workforce.

Peter Jolly, UK marketing manager for Duplo International, commented: "Duplo is totally committed to supporting print education having already installed the Duplo Finishing Suite at Leicester College of Print, as well as supporting the PrintIT! initiative for the second year running.

The LCC clearly shares our vision, and, therefore, we are delighted to be able to provide a range of Duplo's finishing systems for the printers of tomorrow." He continued: "In addition, the LCC facility has given us an additional showroom in central London for our increasing number of City-based clients, who often don't have the time to visit our main Esher showroom.

We will also have the benefit of meeting facilities at the college, enabling us to host various business events and briefings." The LCC, which runs a range of diverse courses, such as a diploma in print media, foundation degrees in digital media production, printing publishing production and the MA in print media management, all of which will participate in the new digital print suite that will be fully operational by the start of the summer term.

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