Five colour Ryobi for Broad Oak Colour Printers

Print Solutions

Canterbury based Broad Oak Colour Printers has committed to a major investment with the purchase of a Ryobi 785E five colour B2 format offset litho press in order to handle an increasingly busy workload. The press has been purchased from Apex Digital Graphics.

The compact format B2 press has replaced an ageing four colour machine as the company’s main production unit, though the four colour product has been retained to produce single and two colour work for the time being. A two-colour machine has been taken out of the plant.

Director Duncan Palmer said, ‘The presses have given us sterling service for some 30 years, but following our management buy out of the business five years ago, we have been very aware of the need to move to a more productive and modern press.

‘The Ryobi 785E is ideal for us: it is a small footprint B2 press, meaning that we were able to slot it into the same floor space that the two colour used to occupy! The features of the modern press are already making a huge difference to the way we work and the way that we can compete for work in the market.

‘Make ready, for example, has been reduced significantly, along with paper waste, including the number of overs we used to run. The automated dampening and ink duct controls make a huge difference to running the machine, and the colour accuracy and consistency make the machine a delight to work with.’

Having joined the company 30 years ago, Duncan and two colleagues conducted a management buyout of the company five years ago, and have been busily expanding the company’s capabilities since then. A new digital platemaking system and a bookletmaker for the bindery have already added to the equipment line up.

‘The addition of the new press has enabled us to quote for work that we just wouldn’t have been able to produce before. The speed and accuracy of make ready along with the vastly improved printing speeds give us a highly competitive edge,’ added Duncan. ‘And we have also been able to reduce the 12 hour days that we had been putting in just to get the work produced!’