Twelve months on from the installation of two Agfa Anapurna H2500i LED wide-format machines and Solopress’ Jack Clifford has praised the improved quality, reliability and great ink savings the printers have brought to the business.
The Southend-based company produces digital, litho and wide-format products, having moved into the latter 10 years ago. In the past 12 months that department, currently running with 15 staff rather than the standard 10, has seen volume increase by 30%, whilst also enjoying a 45% reduction in ink usage.
‘Buying the two Agfa Anapurna engines has definitely been one of our best investment decisions,’ said Mr Clifford, who is head of operations in Southend. ‘We run the machines 24/6 under normal circumstances and they have produced great quality print with only three, quickly resolved, service interventions in the past year. Agfa were a new supplier to Solopress and we diligently tested the machines before we bought but they have delivered more than we expected in terms of reliability, quality and ink usage. Crucially, with the onset of Covid-19 they have also enabled us to produce products that have delivered around 40% of our revenue during the past few months.’
Since the Pandemic hit the UK Solopress’ product development has reached ‘new heights’ with the company now producing wall mounts for hand sanitiser units, wall stickers and floor vinyls in huge volumes on the Agfa machines.
‘Ink and paper are the biggest cost to any printer and the new Agfa machines have saved us an enviable amount on ink in the past 12 months,’ Mr Clifford concluded. ‘I genuinely think the Anapurna’s are a great wide-format engine and I would recommend these machines to anyone.’
