SP Group slashes ink costs following Alwan investment

St Ives subsidiary SP Group has claimed ink cost savings of "at least 10%" after investing in a full suite of software from Alwan Color Expertise.

The POS printer installed Alwan's CMYK Optimizer ECO, Print Standardizer, Print Standardizer Viewer and Print Viewer software in October 2010 and has noted significant ink savings since.

SP Group technical director Nick Stevens said: "Alwan is delivering real cost savings - we are confident of at least 10% savings and above - but to look at the result you wouldn't have thought we were using less ink."

The installation followed two years' research on the available products on the market. One key factor in the selection of Alwan's software was its ability to be configured to SP Group's different production processes, including digital, litho and screen printing.

"We needed a solution that would simplify and automate production at SP Group whilst delivering ink savings and reliable, consistent print across all platforms," said Stevens. "Out of all the products we looked at, Alwan ticked the most boxes and importantly, plugged into our existing Dalim workflow so we were able to avoid the expense and disruption of a whole new installation."

Redditch-based SP Group's print equipment includes one Inca Onset S70, two Inca Colombias, two HP DesignJets, four HP Indigo 5500s, three Epson proofing printers, two Durst Lamdas and a KBA 205 litho press.