Online trade printer Route 1 Print has become the first company in the UK to invest in a Konica Minolta JETvarnish 3D Evo 75 + iFoil L.
The embellishment press, which will be used to add ‘high value effects’ to print jobs, joins 10 other digital presses at the company’s 147,000sqft site in Rotherham.
From there Route 1, the trade print division of Bluetree Group, dispatches over 5500 jobs every week. It had been relying on an older digital varnishing press for creating spot UV effects, but customer demand had started to outstrip capacity.
As a result Route 1 invested in the MGI JETvarnish 3D Evo 75, a B1 format digital spot UV and foiling press, which can process up to 2291 B1 sheets per hour, and stock between 135 and 800 gsm. It can lay down coatings from just 6 microns in thickness up to raised 3D tactile effects at 232 microns, all done using a single clear varnish, while the integrated iFoil L module adds hot foil effects. The press also benefits from a range of automating features, including the Artificial Intelligence Smartscanner for precise and fully automated registration.
‘We were incredibly impressed with the capabilities of this machine and the opportunities it offers,’ said Route 1 managing director Adam Carnell. ‘With the MGI JETvarnish 3D Evo, we can introduce spot UV on a wider range of products, the option for low and high-build spot UV and, in due course, foiling. It’s also highly automated, meaning we can set up multiple jobs one after the other, moving from long-run booklets to short-run business cards with ease. This was especially important to us because the demand for spot UV has increased in the past year. We needed equipment that would speed up production times without sacrificing quality. In fact, the MGI will improve our spot UV quality due to the AIS registration and inline corona treatment.’
