The University Print Centre has installed an Océ VarioPrint 6160 Gemini press and a VarioPrint 4110 with integrated hole-punching and booklet-making, as well as the vendor’s PRISMAprepare software.
The Centre is aiming to increase output from around 15 million impressions per year to more than 20 million, and says it is on target thus far with five million impressions recorded since the machines were installed three months ago.
The Print Centre also operates as a commercial printer under the name of South Coast Graphics, after South Coast was acquired by the University in 2008.
Print Centre production manager Garry Piggott said the move to an Océ fleet was prompted by the impending expiry of a number of vendor contracts.
“We wanted to explore our options and we were concerned that our software didn’t allow us to output to other printing equipment, which limited our options considerably,” he said.
“We spoke to a number of vendors about the issue, including Océ, who set up a demonstration of Océ PRISMAprepare software which easily handled prepress and also allowed us to output to any vendor’s printing equipment. It eliminates the restrictions we experienced before and future-proofs the investment.”
Piggott pointed to the double-sided printing capabilities of the 6160 as a particular advantage, as 90% of the Centre’s output is double-sided.
He also praised the quality of the machines’ output, which he said had placated the concerns of its commercial clients.
“As a long-time offset operation, South Coast Graphics has a good reputation for high quality and it was imperative those standards did not drop in the revamp,” he said. “In fact we consider the quality to be superior to the previous equipment and more reliable as well.”
Piggott added that the new fleet had helped the Centre overcome a “production bottleneck” by removing the need for manual labour in collating punched documents.
Last month, the University of South Australia announced it was looking to expand its commercial printing operations with the installation of a Océ VarioPrint 6160, a VarioPrint 6250 Gemini, and a VarioPrint 4110.
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