8 minute read
The iGen4 was like an old muscle car, while the Iridesse is like a new sports car.
The iGen4 was superb in its time, and now we’re loving the results of the Iridesse’sTM features like underlay inks, full metallics and the extra gamut of colours and finishes. At the same time, its simplicity and reliability have allowed us to practically double our output – certainly makes our jobs easier!”
Challenge
• How to replace ageing equipment while offering new and exciting services to a discerning customer base. • How to maximise return on investment while growing a small business in a fiercely competitive, dynamic environment.
Solution
• The six colour IridesseTM Production Press with GX print server goes above and beyond expectations. • Digital Print Australia capitalises on the valuable relationships built over decades of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia service that has the hallmarks of integrity and innovation.
Benefits
• Digital Print Australia expands confidently into new print options, and new market segments and increases return customer spends. • Digital Print Australia doubles print output and offers leading-edge products like dry inks and metallics.
Digital Print Australia pushes the boundaries of what's possible every day with IridesseTM. In 1973 a young Steve Lewis set up shop in central Adelaide as a freelance typesetter – and he’s never looked back. During his army service onshore and in Vietnam, Steve discovered a love for photography, illustration and producing the printed word.
Together with his wife Karen, who’s constantly been his stalwart support and encourager, company financial director and co-visionary, they’re still highly involved in the success of Digital Print Australia. The business employs 12 people and produces leading-edge design and printing, whether simple business cards, general stationery, one-off photo books, commercial or self-published books or photography competitions. Steve and Karen have always aimed at the high-end print and photography market, specialising in book production. However, Digital Print Australia does produce the full range of printed products, with a stellar reputation for outstanding service. Steve’s passion for pushing the boundaries of creative design has seen the company evolve through nearly five decades of step change in the publishing industry. From hot metal typesetting and bromides to becoming a PostScript bureau before installing their first digital press in the mid-1990s, the Lewis’s have seen it all.
Digital Print Australia has stood the test of time and come out on top by consistently investing in the highest quality equipment. Today, Digital Print Australia, and its enthusiastic staff, enjoy almost limitless creativity with their six colour IridesseTM Production Press with GX Print Server leading their equipment line-up, alongside their Nuvera 120 Monochrome Press and VersantTM 80 Press with EFI Print Server.
The Business Challenge
Digital Print Australia undertook extensive due diligence, taking almost 12 months to investigate the alternatives and decide on a digital press successor to the iGen4. As always, they were looking for the leading edge of quality with reliability, but were also mindful of retaining the value already established in the deep supplier relationship with FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia.
Steve and Karen recognise that a critical factor in their ongoing leadership in the printing world is the depth and longevity of professional relationships with their key equipment providers.
the supplier relationship. “We have been a client of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia for over two decades now and have come to respect the efforts of the staff we deal with as being honest, helpful and friendly.”
Because the business needed to uphold and indeed build on its reputation for fine photography and book publishing, there was no room to make the wrong choice. Staying competitive in what is essentially a global marketplace means significant investment and a high risk of market losses if the new press had failed to live up to expectations.
Digital Print Australia’s longstanding strategy to be early adopters of new technology and equipment has paid dividends – they were the second business in Australia to purchase the iGen4. They were also the first in South Australia to replace their iGen4 with the IridesseTM Production Press. They continue to compete confidently in a cut-throat online market, knowing that the superior quality of their products keeps old customers coming back, and new customers coming in through referrals and peer recommendations.
The Solution
Digital Print Australia left a site visit in Melbourne after seeing the IridesseTM run through its paces, “convinced that there was probably not a better machine available at the time”. There were also no other digital presses offering gold and silver inks in Adelaide. That clinched the deal.
Once the installation and initial training were completed, the Digital Print Australia team were instant fans. The generational change in technology, ease of operations, the speed of the press with an absence of jams and the quietness of the machinery particularly struck the press operators. And experimenting with the vast creative possibilities that opened with the enlarged gamut of specialty colours – most recently, the Pink Dry Ink – is an ongoing delight for the designers, machine operators and of course, the customers. “With the IridesseTM, digital is now as good as offset”, claims Steve, “and we can nail Orange, without an extra colour pass!”
The GX server on the IridesseTM makes programming intuitive as never before. It is now Digital Print Australia’s preferred RIP due to its extensive feature set, consistency, and reliability. Soon after bedding down the new press, Digital Print Australia technical gurus David Dobson and Steve Kounnas, with FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia’s dedicated analyst, put their heads together to innovate and customise the RIP, further streamlining the process. The supporting analyst helped set up job templates and hot folders and modified the code to create more job templates bespoke to Digital Print Australia.
Digital Print Australia appreciates the value of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia’s regular touchpoints through all departments. These include longstanding relationships with their Account Manager of 11 years and counting, and the experienced technical team who bring fast, reliable support whenever it’s needed, even at odd hours.
Digital Print Australia is a member of the FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia Partner Excellence Program (PEP) and has used the relationships built with technical experts and analysts to fully exploit every feature of their equipment to benefit their customers.
David Dobson, Print Room Manager, compares the former and current presses – “The iGen4 was like an old muscle car, while the IridesseTM is like a new sports car. The iGen4 was superb in its time, and now we’re loving the results of the Iridesse’sTM features like underlay inks, full metallics and the extra gamut of colours and finishes. At the same time, its simplicity and reliability have allowed us to practically double our output – certainly makes our jobs easier!”
Business Benefit – Digital Print Australia can offer its clients the latest innovations in digital printing.
“We were genuinely thrilled with the quality it produced, the feedback from our client base and, obviously, our ability to provide the metallic options,” commented Steve.
With the IridesseTM, Digital Print Australia could differentiate itself in the market with CMYK+ bespoke printing. Digital Print Australia has been able to confidently revisit their entire client base, knowing that they have a better service than many of their competitors. And further, being able to offer new clients improved options and service because of the superior features of the IridesseTM has everyone excited.
Business Benefit – Digital Print Australia uses the increased capacity to enter new markets and build new product ranges.
The IridesseTM Production Press has opened doors to new product offerings, as Digital Print Australia have diversified their print options. They’re now reaping that return on investment, experiencing interest and growth in new areas of print. Wine label clients, in particular, have embraced the metallic capabilities enthusiastically.
For the first time, Digital Print Australia is producing food packaging using the specialty dry inks. Steve noted, “The increase in the dynamic range has been amazing and our staff have produced some excellent promotional material to help us circulate the possibilities to existing and potential clients.”
Business Benefit – Demonstrating industry leadership; Digital Print Australia regularly wins awards.
Industry recognition through national awards have proven to be a solid upselling tool, as peer recognition is a powerful purchasing motivator for their clients. Digital Print Australia really shines when it comes to pitting itself against the best in the business. Over the last few years, they’ve won numerous PIXI awards and recently won the Innovation Print Awards (IPA) 2020 in the ‘books’ category. They also took out a winning spot in the FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia Design Competition in 2019, using their win to demonstrate their six colour print capabilities to new and existing clients.
What’s Ahead
Digital Print Australia is excited for the future, knowing that they can deliver outstanding service with their stable of FUJIFILM Business Innovation Australia equipment and experienced, creative staff who take pride in their work.
Reflecting on their 48-year journey, Steve and Karen, backed by their long-serving team, count it a privilege to have been part of the exciting evolutionary jumps in the industry. With a comparatively sluggish start, the industry has leapfrogged every year since the 1980s with the era of desktop publishing, digitisation and automation. Now enjoying the IridesseTM, Steve “can’t imagine what can be better”. He does believe that printing will continue however, because people still prefer reading a beautifully-crafted book as opposed to a tablet”. https://www.fujifilm.com/fbglobal/eng
