Berforts expands with dual Elan 500 spend

Book printer Berforts Group used its recent trip to Drupa to boosts its digital print capabilities by signing for the UK's first two Elan 500 presses from Delphax.

Berforts has opted for the machines, which are powered by Memjet printheads, to bridge the gap between high performance cut-sheet and web print capabilities.

The Elan 500 digital printing presses, the first of their kind in the UK, can print at a resolution of up to 1,600dpi and up to 500 colour A4 pages per minute.

The sheetfed machine, which can handle substrates up to 350gsm (or 250gsm duplex), can print on sheet sizes up to a maximum 450mm x 640mm SRA2 format.

Stephen Hubbard, general manager of European operations at Delphax, who oversaw the deal said: "The system’s capabilities have been shaped by our market research, including extensive customer input, on the production and competitive pressures faced by commercial  and book printers today.

"The result is innovation that not only sets a new speed benchmark for inkjet technology in a sheet-fed configuration, but will also allow Delphax to market these systems at substantially lower prices than the competition."

Berforts' new investments come on the back of a merger with Information Press to create a £10m business.

Through that deal, Information Press managing director Roger Shepherd became group chairman, while Berforts managing director Gerald White became group managing director.

"This is a true merger, with a share swap," said White at the time. "Information Press are in B1 litho and we are in digital, so it's a great fit."