Expanding your digital business with Kodak’s Nexpress Platform.
HF Group is grounded in history, working with the nation’s oldest and most prestigious research libraries, museums and archives, but is also focused on the future as it has evolved to meet the creative needs of designers and publishers. During the course of a year, the HF Group handles projects ranging from books for museums and art galleries to showcase their collections, to the restoration of a 400-year-old Bible, to binding 100,000 cookbooks, to printing and binding 100 copies of layflat books for a renowned architect’s building/design competition, to producing textbooks and student theses.
The HF Group is passionate about the medium of print, as are their customers. Both place great value in the emotional connection that paper, text, and images bring, which can’t be matched by pixels on a screen. In fact, printed books have begun to take back market share. In 2015, Nielsen data showed sales of printed books increased by about 2%. Publishers, both large and small, are getting creative by investing more money in print titles, and by creating new categories, as seen in the craze for adult colouring books. And publishers are using digital printing technology to create new business models.
HF Group has expanded its capabilities for short run and on-demand printing. This allows its publishing customers to print smaller quantities, helping them grow their business by reducing inventory and production costs. The company recently invested in four Kodak Nexpress Digital Production Color Presses-a Nexpress SX3900 Press and a Nexpress SX3300 in two of their facilities. As part of this upgrade, HF Group has also integrated Kodak prinergy workflow and Kodak insite Prepress Portal to improve their workflow processes.
Nexpress SX3900 Digital Production Color Press
According to Jim Heckman, vice president of HF Group, ‘The combination of the Nexpress Presses and prinergy workflow represents a game changer for our business. From a production and operations standpoint, we have streamlined our operations with one system shared between the two production facilities. And with capabilities such as the specialty inks for the Nexpress fifth imaging unit, like Nexpress light black HD Dry Ink, along with the long sheet feeder’s ability to print on substrates up to one meter in length, the Nexpress press gives us the ability to offer our customers the flexibility they need and the high-quality output they expect.’
The printing of fine art books is a market segment where overall quality, accurate color reproduction and the ability to use specialized capabilities is crucial. For HF Group’s art book clients, the ease of printing on a wide variety of substrates is key to winning new business. From oversized covers, to jackets, to large format books, to routine projects they have the ability to deliver striking images that match the offset quality their clients demand. The unique capabilities of the Nexpress press help to produce high-quality, beautiful covers that highlight the typography, imagery and colors, which are the hallmarks of a distinctly designed book cover, whether printed on paper or even on cloth.
Printed with the long sheet feeder on the Kodak Nexpress ZX Digital Production Color Platform
‘At HF Group, we believe in the important role that Printers and book manufacturers play to support literacy, the advancement of education and the arts,’ said Paul Parisi, COO of HF Group. ‘This commitment has been part of our culture for almost two centuries, and it’s why we continue to invest in print’s future.’
HF Group is in the business of preserving memories, celebrating achievements, and marking anniversaries. What better way to tell one’s customers or staff about the trajectory of a company than by putting the story in print and packaging it as a luxurious hard cover book! Or to celebrate a life and preserve photographs, from youth to old age. A book is rich in ways that no other media can duplicate. The ‘coffee table book’ describes a valued object, placed to encourage examination and discussion by family and guests. Only a book offers this inviting opportunity and HF Group is proud to be part of the book-making tradition.
