Speciality printer McKellar Renown has purchased a Fuji Xerox Color 1000i and says its automation and enhanced capabilities will increase productivity and client offerings. Speaking with Australian Printer, Chris Norgate, McKellar Renown co-general manager, says the company has enjoyed a long relationship with Fuji Xerox and since it was moving from its Carnegie plant to Port Melbourne following its recent acquisition by Bambra Press it made sense to upgrade.
Norgate says, “We were using the Color 800 press, which did a good job, but as the new press was released and as we were moving we spoke with Xerox and the agreement was made to upgrade. “The 800 will be traded in for the 1000i, which has greater productivity, greater range of substrates, higher automation, and its gold and silver toners will also mean we can add another string to our bows.” The Melbourne based printer says the Color 1000i will be competing with the company’s HP digital presses for work. Norgate says, “The machine will sit next to our digital HP Indigo 7600 and 10000 so we will see what work gets pushed on it. “I can’t forecast how much the machine will help the bottom line but it definitely increases our capabilities. It is a new tool in the shed which will further increase our range of offerings.
“Now if a customer walks in with a particularly challenging job we can see which machine will best suit the client’s requirements and that printer will get the job.” It has been nearly two months since McKellar Renown was purchased by long time competitor Bambra Press and Norgate says the merge has been smooth. “I can’t say it hasn’t been a lot of work but all in all it has been quite rosy,” he says. He says the reason why there hasn’t been much difficulty in merging the two companies is because there wasn’t much antagonism between the direct competitors before the merger. “Bambra Press was pushing the boundaries and creating excellent work, which was opening the market to the latest innovations,” Norgate says. “And for that reason it was good to be competing against them. We had a great deal of respect for each other.” McKellar Renown adds the Color 1000i to its long list of equipment, which include offset lithographic, letterpress, HP Indigo (A2 and A3), security, finishing and embellishing machines.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter