A Sydney, Miller Street-based Kwik Kopy franchise has purchased the first Canon Colorado M in Australia at Visual Impact 2023. The deal was finalised at the Starleaton stand as the supplier facilitated the sale.
The company, which currently operates a Roland Soljet Pro XR 640, a Xerox 3100 digital press and a Xerox Iridesse production press, made the investment as it has seen a significant increase in the demand for large format printing.
“We have been quite big in the large format space already, but since everyone has come out of hibernation following COVIDd, especially this financial year, we have experienced a heavy increase in workload in the event space and updating workspaces. It means that we’re doing more than we ever had to before and needed more equipment to keep up with the demand,” Kwik Kopy Printing Miller Street director Daniel McKenzie said.
This motivated the company to look to increase its capabilities and productivity. Until now, McKenzie had to outsource some of the work and considered purchasing three solvent machines.
“They would still take three footprints and wouldn’t have as much output as the Canon Colorado M. The choice was obvious,” McKenzie said.
“We do cut sheet, dye sub, direct UV and large format, and thanks to the Canon Colorado M, there’s not much we won’t be able to do in-house now.”
McKenzie has been running the Kwik Kopy franchise for over 15 years and is passionate about large format printing.
“When I left school, I worked with my father and uncle, who owned three Kwik Kopy centres, so I used to run around print shops in my youth. For me, large formats are simply a passion; I love it,” he said.
Starleaton senior manager Dale Hawkins said, “The machine that Daniel bought is the latest Colorado M series. This is the fourth generation unit and the first time Colorado can print white. Canon calls it ‘white without worries’. As we all know, white can sometimes be problematic in wide format because it has a different consistency, but that’s not the case with Colorado.
“You can do the same maintenance for white as you do with CMYK. It is a fully modular machine, enabling printers to buy it at a lower price point and upgrade later once the business grows.”
According to Hawkins, the new maintenance features maximise the machine’s uptime with only 20 minutes of cleaning cycle needed per month.
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