Bakergoodchild buys Xerox Baltoro inkjet

The Xerox Baltoro will take paper of 60-270gsm
The Xerox Baltoro will take paper of 60-270gsm

Bakergoodchild is set to move into cut-sheet inkjet production printing after investing in one of the UK’s first Xerox Baltoro presses.

The Birmingham-based direct mailer is set to take delivery of the machine, which is being supplied by Cardiff-based Xerox reseller Pinnacle, before Christmas.

The company said the investment will increase its production capacity and enable it to provide its customers with faster turnaround times.

Managing director Paul Brough, who joined Bakergoodchild in August, told Printweek: “This is an additional piece of kit, which will give us the ability to get into the transactional personalised market a bit more.

“We’ve got a lot of customers that aren’t keen on the way toner sits on the page, as opposed to litho print, but with inkjet it goes through to that market where we can create a proper white paper solution for our customers.”

He adds: “I think it suits the transactional marketplace a lot more. From a cost point of view, it’s beneficial in some areas depending on the colour coverage. The charge is based on the ink coverage on the page rather than a click charge from a toner [press], so for some work it will be more cost-effective, others not, which is why we’ve still got our full arsenal of other colour printers.”

Designed to handle high-volume transactional and direct mail applications, the Baltoro makes use of Xerox’s High Fusion inks through W-series inkjet heads, which allow for 1,200dpi print resolution without the need for primers or precoats.

With a print speed of up to 197ppm A4 simplex or up to 302ipm duplex on an A3 sheet, the Baltoro runs automated intelligence technology for production processes such as workflow and colour management, allowing it to self-correct in real time, while a ‘K-only’ mode can cap the CMY heads to reduce usage when printing black-only jobs.

The machine, which will take paper of 60-270gsm, joins other Xerox kit at Bakergoodchild including an Iridesse, a Versant and two mono Nuveras. The business also operates Konica Minolta kit.

70-staff Bakergoodchild is set to turn over just under £10m this year.

In October the company took on a new IT director as it continues to drive forward its digital services strategy. This followed its summer introduction of partially addressed mail and its installation of the UK’s first Eagle 30 inkjet system from MCS in March. The business is also planning to make a raft of further investments throughout 2020.