The company installed Screen’s B2 sheetfed inkjet press, the Truepress Jet SX, two weeks ago, with the first commercial jobs put though the £1.2m machine last week.
RCS managing director Michael Todd said that the company already had enough short-run trade work it could migrate from its battery of litho presses to keep the press busy, but it was the new opportunities that the Jet SX made viable that genuinely excited him.
"It’s early days, but this is our stake in the digital future, it would be a failure if we ended up just using it as a litho press for short runs," said Todd.
He highlighted the 1,440 dpi machine’s ability to handle stocks up to 600 mic, which would enable RCS to produce items such as premium quality, personalised packaging ‘gifting’ products, such as wine boxes and confectionary packaging.
The Jet SX features a litho-style vacuum flat-bed transport system, capable of handling 1,620sph simplex or 810sph duplex and uses inkjet heads with a minimum droplet size of 2 picolitres.
"The thing that is unique about this machine is that we can print onto pre-micro-perforated, pre-scored blanks and then when someone wants a box the print is literally the last operation. The box then pulls from the ‘backing’ like a tax disc and there’s no need to for any post-press operations," said Todd.
He hinted that the £7.5m turnover, 100 plus staff company is already in talks with a "major retailer" about personalised "gifting" packaging and fulfilment.
This latest investment is part of the firm’s strategy to focus on high added-value print and the Jet SX joins a number of notable firsts at the Retford, Nottinghamshire-based business.
In November 2010 the company installed the UK’s first Scodix 1200 digital embossing press, which was joined by a second machine around nine months later. Earlier this year RCS also added the UK’s first Presstek 75DI B2 direct imaging press.
"For me the Jet SX perfectly complements the Scodix, because if we’re going to produce beautiful personalised gifting, we can offer not just personalised print but also personalised embossing to embellish it."
In terms of future investments, Todd said he was looking at adding the Scodix Rainbow inkjet glittering station to one of his digital embossing presses.
"We’re always warned about being at the bleeding edge of technology, but I find it much more exciting to go for kit that is new and innovative and see if we can create markets for them," said Todd.
Screen Europe vice president Brian Filler said that securing the first Jet SX was a major coup for the UK and that RCS represented the ideal first install.
"When you consider the scale of these investments, what you have to be able to do is look at offering services to your customers that don’t necessarily exist yet. The more creative you are, then the more options the Jet SX opens up for you. Michael is a very forward thinking individual and that makes him the perfect partner," he said.
