Nexpress digital press fills short-run print gap

Commercial printer Police Press in Cairo, which works for the Egyptian police and government, has installed a Kodak Nexpress S3000 digital colour press equipped with a Nexpress Glossing Unit.

The Nexpress is also working alongside two Kodak Digimaster EX150 digital production systems.

Those systems have the finishing capability to boost production speed and capacity, provide the ability to penetrate new markets and generate additional revenue.

Operating in a variety of markets, approximately 40 per cent - 50 per cent of the company's work is focused on commercial applications.

The increasing market trend towards shorter print runs in a competitive market with tight deadlines led Police Press to invest in digital printing.

The remaining 50 per cent - 60 per cent includes work for the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The systems were installed at the beginning of September 2009 when the company celebrated its 10th anniversary.

Since then, the company's digital print volume has been steadily increasing every month.

The Kodak Nexpress press is now producing one million A3 pages per month, while each of the Digimaster systems is doing two million impressions per month.

Maged Nakhla, operations manager at Sidhom and Co, Kodak's distributor in Egypt, said: 'Police Press saw digital as a way to fill the gap in their market for short-run printing at a reasonable price.

The right system had to provide excellent print quality and cost efficiency, as well as allowing the company to quickly turn-around client jobs.

Before making its decision, Police Press went through a tender process, which involved a number of digital printing system providers.

The company was particularly impressed with the flexibility of the Nexpress as it is able to handle heavy-weight substrates up to 350gsm, as well as printing in polyester at 400microns.

It was also pleased with the speed of the Digimaster systems and the fact that it can handle oversize A3 formats up to 364mm x 470mm, said Kodak.

The decision to invest in the Digimaster systems was influenced by two key projects, the Egyptian National ID application and passport forms.

With a monthly volume of one million A3 pages, including barcodes as variable data, this is a challenge.

The systems are also used to produce mono educational books where speed is of the essence.

Another variable data application includes cheques for the National Bank of Egypt, which are being pre-printed in offset with variable elements added by the Digimasters.

Other applications on the Nexpress press range from colour tickets with security watermarks to personalised brochures and high quality books.

The digital printing investment has opened new market avenues for Police Press.

It even uses the Nexpress for its demanding Italian and French fashion publishing customers when in need of producing proofs for fashion magazines where high quality and colour accuracy are paramount.

Installation of the three machines took no more than two weeks, which meant that Police Press got up and running with digital in virtually no time following training sessions in Germany and on-site.

Mohamed Abu Zahara, general manager at Police Press, commented: 'The performance of the Nexpress and the Digimaster is unbelievable.

They are very stable machines that can handle many different applications, heavyweight substrates and double-sided work, all perfectly suited to our current and future business.

We are currently looking into providing new services to our customers, such as direct marketing material, photo applications and many other digital print services.

We are convinced Kodak and Sidhom and Co will be the perfect partners to establish our business goals.

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