The company bought the 1998 MAN Roland 305 press through Richard Carr Graphic Equipment Ltd, with Richard Carr installing it himself in May.
It’s the first and only one of its type being used in the Wellington printing market.
Managing director, Trevor Giles says they’d been looking for a larger press for some time and had decided they needed a five-colour with a perfecting unit.
Trevor adds that they researched the market thoroughly before settling on the Roland.
“We looked at several other manufacturers and machines that were recommended to us. When it finally came down to it, this one was the best press that we saw at a price that we could afford.”
Richard Carr was recommended to them because of his extensive hands-on experience with Roland presses. A printing engineer by trade, Richard moved into the second hand machinery market three years ago, and this year expanded his business into the machinery moving and installation service.
Not only did Richard source the machine through his European contacts, but he also dismantled it in Germany, containerised it ready for shipping and installed it in Wellington. “We made that a condition of the contract, because it is so much easier dealing with one party.”
Trevor says they’ve been pleased with his service which has been “very professional all the way through.”
Production manager, Tim Engel, who travelled to Germany with Richard to see the machine in action, says that not only was the installation trouble free, but the machine has also “done everything we expected it to do.”
“It has made a huge difference to production because it prints two sides at once, printing two over three up to 15,000 sph. In some jobs it has cut production time in half.”
All round, he says the experience has been a very positive one. “You hear some nightmare stories about installations but this wasn’t one of them. There have been very few teething problems at all.”
Richard Carr also organised and supplied a demonstrator from Roland, Australia, who spent two weeks training the firm’s printers.
Also Richard has provided full technical support and back services extending the 3-month warranty period.
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