Courtney Colour’s transition to digital-only may have been painful initially, but demand is now so strong it is installing a second B2 sized Indigo 10000 to fuel double-digit growth.

Director Aldo Burcheri says turnover fell 15 per cent in the first year after the company got out of offset, but since installing Australia’s first HP Indigo 10000 last March it has grown 32 per cent, and is on track to jump another 15 per cent by the end of this financial year.

Burcheri says Courtney doubled up on the Indigo, with a second one which began production last week, because there is simply too much work for just one.

“Demand grew to the point where we were always at capacity even after adding an extra shift,” he says.

“Not only does a second machine give us room to grow, it gives our clients confidence in our reliability, that we can always get the job done whenever they need it.”

[Related: More printers switching to digital]

Burcheri says the huge demand growth has come from the three key areas of direct mail, point-of-sale, and short run book printing – all of which are new markets with new applications.

“The Indigo’s bigger B2 size has opened up a lot of opportunities for us that have allowed us to grow the business in new directions,” he says.

Courtney has combined the variable data applications of digital print with bigger size allowing for bigger jobs on short runs to produce fully personalised direct mail, coupled with cross-media campaigns through Direct Smile software.

“Instead of on offset when you could maybe just have personalised addresses, we can now print customised full-colour mail packs in runs of up to 30,000,” he says.

He says printing in B2 opens up new point-of-sale markets with Courtney offering short run posters for campaigns in individual retail outlets.

“Stores can tailor advertising in national campaigns to their own local operations and demographics in a way that was never economical on offset. They can change offers daily if they want to,” he says.

Surprisingly, book printing is another growth area as the company has converted many of its offset clients to digital because the Indigo 10000 can handle runs of 1000-1500, double what was possible with previous digital models.

“The message to them is ‘print what you need when you need it’,” Burcheri says.

“Some clients have even told me the Indigo quality is better than offset because the colour jumps out at you instead of being a bit flat on offset,” he says.

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Burcheri also credits some of the company’s success to its printIQ MIS system, as getting files to print fast is critical to maximise the advantages of digital’s shorter setup times, and with so many different short runs jobs on the go.

He says it has allowed Courtney to streamline operations and implement lean manufacturing processes that are making production more efficient and cost effective.

Burcheri says trade work has been somewhat smaller than expected since the company launched the Courtney Direct ‘premium digital’ trade arm last July because competition has ramped up with big trade printers like CMYKhub moving into the space.

However, he says the clients he has gained are loyal and pleased with the service, and their business makes up about five per cent of Courtney’s turnover.

“As we expand into new market we are also able to offer them more services,” he says.

“There is too much doom and gloom in this industry. Print will be alive for a long time, we just have to look at it differently.”

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