Ryobi presses are making an impact, with new installations in Paraparaumu and Christchurch.
Paraparaumu’s Precise Print installed a new two colour 522GX Ryobi press in September last year, and has been reaping the rewards, with vastly increased productivity helping create an impressive return on investment.The company is also running a single colour 520 Ryobi press, which utilises the same sheet size as the 522GX which provides for increased flexibility in production.
The new Ryobi press replaced an existing two colour press at Precise Print. But whereas the old press was largely based on manual technology, the new Ryobi is highly automated, and delivers superior performance.
“We purchased the Ryobi after a year or to of looking at all the options,” says Precise Print’s Sean Donnelly. “I thought it offered the best return on investment, and I was satisfied that it was the right press for the job.”
And the new press has delivered, adding much improved productivity and consistent quality to Precise Print’s operation. “We are getting jobs through the press in half the time it used to take. It has been producing since day one. “The quality on it is fantastic. It prints a good solid and the makeready is very quick and the number of spoils is very low.”
Precise Print were not newcomers to Ryobi technology, having had three or four of the company’s machines in the past, and Donnelly says that the exemplary service of the Ryobi backup team was another factor in convincing him to purchase the new press. The company employs 16 people and is run by Sean Donnelly, who took over the business in 1989 when it was just a one man band. While the new Ryobi press provides a good platform for growth, Donnelly says that he is not getting carried away with ambition.
“We are planning to really have steady growth. We are not looking at taking large chunks out of the market. This type of new technology provides us with quicker and more efficient ways to get work through.”
Precise Print had considered investing in a four or five colour press, but Donnelly did a study into the type of work that was being put through the company’s existing two colour press and found that the amount of four colour work was too low to warrant the investment.
“The new press allows us to more efficiently handle the workload we already had.”
Rainbow Print launch
Christchurch’s Rainbow Print held an open night in March in conjunction with Ryobi agents Cyber NZ to demonstrate the company’s new Ryobi 755 with coater. Cyber’s Bernard Cheong flew in from Singapore to give a presentation about the press and the technology behind it.
The 30-40 people who turned out for the open night were also treated to an overview of Ryobi’s plans for drupa and what would be on display at the world’s biggest gathering of printing industry professionals.
“A lot of the people that came were very appreciative of the fact that they could know what's happening before it’s happened,” says Cyber’s David Taylor.
One of the big talking points for Ryobi and Cyber, apart from the new B1 size 1050, in the lead-up to drupa is the launch of an experimental LED-UV printing system to be demonstrated at Düsseldorf. Unlike conventional UV lamp systems, the new system uses an LED-UV curing device that reduces power consumption by 70-80 per cent, increases the life of the light source by about 12 times, and generates no ozone.
Rainbow Print director Graeme Duncan gave a speech to attendees pointing out that the event was not about Rainbow Print but about Cyber and providing an opportunity for Christchurch and South Island printers to see what the Ryobi technology is all about.
Cyber’s David Taylor says that Rainbow are a smart and efficient operation who do their homework before deciding who to do business with. The end result is that Cyber has won much of the company’s business, Taylor says. “We have proved ourselves with our service and with the quality of our presses and that has enabled Rainbow Print to continue to invest in Ryobi,” Taylor says.
One example of the level of service was demonstrated when the first Ryobi press was installed at Rainbow. Taylor made sure that a local service agent was appointed and trained at the Ryobi factory, in order to ensure that Rainbow's service needs were catered for.
This latest installation at Rainbow Press is the third Ryobi press the company has installed in the last five years. Highly automated and highly productive, the new Ryobi 755 with coater will allow Rainbow Press to replace two existing presses.
