The R2000, installed in October, is the firm’s second, joining a Latex 3600 and Latex 570 at PressOn’s Chatham production site.
The new installation has allowed PressOn to ramp up production with white ink work, something that had proved popular with customers since the first R2000 went in in 2018, as well as vehicle wraps, which is a profitable market for the company.
“That’s the beauty of Latex technology,” PressOn’s managing director Andy Wilson told Printweek.
“It’s not just vehicle wrapping, it’s a variety of work - they are so flexible in terms of what you can put through them. You can’t wrap, for example, with UV inks.”
The press’ environmental credentials - and customers’ awareness of them - are likewise of high importance to PressOn.
He added: “We’ve kind of got ourselves in bed with HP, and we’ve found it’s been a real help because it’s a universally recognised brand that has a strong commitment to sustainability and responsible environmental practice.
“By aligning ourselves with that brand, it’s making it very easy for us to qualify ourselves as a business [environmentally].”
The Latex printers use water-based inks, are comparatively energy-efficient, and PressOn subscribes to HP’s ink cartridge recycling scheme as part of its zero waste to landfill policy.
“Recycling is paramount,” Wilson said.
“If you think that [sustainability] is not the most important item on the agenda [...] you’re dreaming. There isn’t anything else more important in my opinion.”
The industry as a whole, he added, has a lot of work to do to repair the damage it has caused over many years of use of harmful chemicals and disposable print.
PressOn itself has now dropped PVC as a primary substrate, recycling as much of its products as possible, and buying its raw materials from UK manufacturers where possible.
“Ultimately, the customer’s buying it, it’s their responsibility,” he said.
“And they need to accept the fact that it costs them more money to have socially, environmentally, responsible products. But it’s our responsibility as a supplier to make them aware of that.”
PressOn employs 20 staff at its production site, with an additional team of 15 installers. It turns over around £3m.
