While some businesses slip into paralysis by worrying about the problems associated with upgrading their technology, others find themselves struggling to cope with new business coming from new machines. Solution Dynamics on Auckland’s North Shore has translated new equipment into new business by increasing capacity and productivity
SOLUTION Dynamics was one of the first transactional printers in New Zealand to move into full colour production. With its upgrade to a new set of graphic arts printing presses, it intends to ensure its success in this area continues.Solution Dynamics works from the perspective that numerous studies show colour communicates better than black and white alone, and in the transaction industry, clear, well-designed documents that communicate clearly and efficiently are the name of the game. Its decision to get involved in this area comes from a deliberate, strategy.
The company introduced colour production capabilities in early 2007 with the purchase of DocuColour 2060 digital printers. It says that the success of this initiative was such that by late 2008, this equipment was at full capacity and a decision was made to upgrade the existing fleet of DocuColour 2060 printers with new machines to further enhance its colour production offering.
Fuji Xerox evaluated the Solution Dynamics business model and developed two possible solutions: either two second hand DocuColour 8000APs at a reduced price, or the new 700 Digital Colour Press. While the 700DCPs were known as a graphic arts press, Sharon Souproanuck, operations manager at Solution Dynamics believes the decision was quite simple.
She says, “We were all set to go with the 8000s when the idea of the 700DCPs was put on the table. For us it was about having faith in our supplier and trusting that they knew what was best for our business needs.
“Fuji Xerox tested some problematic jobs on both machines and the 700DCP came out superior. The new technology in the 700DCPs allowed for improved ripping and printing speeds, and since we are often running smaller jobs, the machines give us more options to run multiple jobs simultaneously.”
From Solution Dynamics perspective, the 700DCP builds on the best of both worlds, since it was designed to split capabilities as a graphic arts or transaction printing machine. For example, tray switching, a major feature, allows the machine to pick from multiple trays during a print run even while running at the full volume of 70 pages per minute. Further enhancements ensure the machine picks the one at a time, and aligns them properly.
Souproanuck is impressed with the image quality and says, “The printer sizes on the 700DCP are great. They allow us to print at quite a small size, where previously we would have had to run the stock through an inkjet printer. Being able to print in black is also great as it gives us options; I can either print it on the DP180s or for handling difficult stock I can use the 700DCPs.”
Souproanuck reckons that choosing to have four of the 700DCPs means they will always be churning out pages and revenue, even when one goes offline for new consumables or maintenance.
She says, “Fuji Xerox provided us with an out of hours standby service free for three months after the platform was implemented. It is testament to the machines’ reliability that we haven’t needed to use this.” She says that switching over to the new machines was a painless process, taking seven business days to complete. They used a staggered approach with the machines being swapped out one by one. Fuji Xerox worked with Solution Dynamics to design a new production floor layout.
Souproanuck says, “I wanted a completely new floor plan, but one that didn’t involve ripping walls down and spending a lot of money. Quite a bit of planning went into the improved floor plan and Fuji Xerox was a great help.”
Solution Dynamics has been running its new set of machines since February, and Souproanuck says they were running at full volume almost immediately. Each staff member received about four hours of training.
The work produced by the 700DCPs has allowed Solution Dynamics to grow further into the colour arena. This has translated into new business coming through the doors. Souproanuck says, “The installation of these new machines has allowed us to become more aggressive when dealing with new business. With the increased capacity and higher productivity of the 700DCPs we are now more confident about our digital platform offering. Through the work we have previously done, we are able to prove that we can work well in this space and this in turn is giving us new opportunities.”
