CMYK renews Ricoh deal with printer upgrades & efficiency boost

Ricoh has been reappointed for another five-year term as the printer vendor of choice by Australian printer CMYK Colour Online.

This renewal marks the first time CMYK Colour Online has extended a contract with a printer vendor. The decision comes after a five-year collaboration during which Ricoh supported the company's business and production growth.

CMYK Colour Online, which was established in 2007 and is headquartered in Moorabbin, Victoria, provides print solutions to both business and consumer markets across Australia. The company operates a service model that accepts online orders and delivers products such as cards, flyers, postcards, stationery, booklets, and magazines nationwide.

Renewed partnership

David Kegen, Director at CMYK, said the continuation of the partnership was influenced by product performance and service quality. He stated, "The decision to renew the partnership for an additional five years was driven by the quality of Ricoh's printers and its exceptional after-sales support."

"We have developed a very good working relationship with Ricoh during the past five years. During that time, their printers have performed extremely well, allowing us to maintain the quality of outputs that our client base expects. We have also been very impressed with their level of service which ensures our printers are always fully functional."

When the partnership with Ricoh commenced, CMYK deployed three RICOH Pro C9210 digital colour printers and a RICOH Pro 8220S high-volume multifunction black-and-white printer to expand output and revenue potential.

Machinery upgrades

As part of the new contract, CMYK will add two RICOH Pro C9500 machines equipped with productivity kits and a RICOH Pro C7500 that includes a fifth colour press for gold, silver, clear, and white printing. The Pro C9500 models can print at up to 135 pages per minute and handle a broad range of media, including metallics, super gloss finishes, textured stocks, and cardstocks.

A feature of the new equipment is the capacity to print a white base layer with full-colour overlays, which results in more vibrant and opaque outputs on dark or transparent materials. This function is particularly relevant for print applications such as stickers and labels on plastic substrates.

Deployment of the upgraded machinery is scheduled for mid-December, with one of the existing RICOH Pro C9210 printers remaining operational as additional redundancy for high-demand periods. Kegen commented, "This will improve our redundancy and ensure we have the capacity to handle peak demand periods without compromise."

Operational efficiency

The company anticipates efficiency improvements of between 10 and 20 percent with the new Ricoh printers, which can process jobs with different paper stocks without requiring breaks for cooling or warming of toner reserves.

Kegen highlighted, "During the past five years, the Ricoh machines have allowed us to grow our portfolio of offerings and maintain the very high-quality outputs that our customers have come to expect."

Discussing Ricoh's approach to service, Kegen added, "We find that nothing is ever too hard for Ricoh. For example, at one point we were reorganising our workshop and needed to move the position of the machines. While this would have cost a significant amount with some of our previous vendors, Ricoh completed the work free of charge."

Kegen concluded, "We look forward to working closely with Ricoh during the next five years as they continue to support our growing business."