On this Ask the Experts episode, go inside the details of a White Paper Factory. Print Manager Eric Weinbrenner discusses White Paper Factory equipment needs and how PCI Group uses those machines and technology to make it happen.
“We use web presses, and Canon Colorstream 3900s and Canon Colorstream 6900s. For black and white, they print 150 meters a minute. For four-color, they print 127 meters per minute. About every hour and 20 minutes, that’s 188,000 images on the press,” Eric explained.
And those printers are running seven days a week, requiring much less manual work. It creates an environment of quality and accuracy even with the massive volume that the organization produces.
High-speed inkjet printers receive the blank rolls of white paper then can variably print at lightning speed. This technology allows printers to print on demand versus preprinting shells or templates. This traditional way of printing transactional mail wasn’t very efficient. It required offline labor and organization. Plus, those rolls had to live in storage, which created more costs for needed space.
Eric noted that PCI Group primarily uses pigment inks but does have dye inks. Most customers are now on the Canon high-speed inkjet printers, but the company still has screen printers for traditional clients. “It’s beautiful color work,” he said.
Printed mailings can now look extremely high-quality at a much lower expense. Since the printing is all variable, our clients also have the option to integrate different messages on these statements or letters. That kind of functionality wasn’t scalable before, so it sets us apart from many transactional mail printers.
