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David Brown Graphics (DBG) is a Sydney-based family run graphic design and communication business that has been handed down over generations since 1926, when it first began offering its services.
Today, DBG is headed by brothers, Michael and Philip Brown, who continue the family heritage of providing graphic design and communications services to organisations from small businesses through to multi-nationals.
"The service team’s capability and response times are outstanding, and the service technicians are a pleasure to work with. The reliable service and support are important to a business like ours, which depends on the C1085 every day."
- Philip Brown, DBG
DBG’s commercial print division, Power Colour, offers digital pre-press and printing services for DBG clients and other customers. The division had been using the same digital printer for the better part of the past five years. The performance of DBG’s existing printer had diminished over time in comparison to the capabilities of some of the newer entrants in the local digital printer market. This meant that DBG had a less competitive digital printing offering than before.
Philip Brown, DBG, said, “The digital printing landscape has changed markedly over the past several years. It is a fast-moving market fuelled by rapidly-evolving technology. The pace of technological change makes many printing machines obsolete relatively quickly.”
In addition to effectively restricting DBG’s print quality capabilities and offerings, the existing printer also had a comparatively high click-charge rate, meaning the company’s cost-per-print impacted the potential margins it could make on commercial print work.
DBG identified Konica Minolta as the digital printing technology provider that could offer an ideal alternative to its existing commercial printing equipment. After a series of demonstrations and tests with Konica Minolta providing advice and assistance, DBG selected the Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C1085 with Creo print controller.
DBG was impressed with both the print quality of the bizhub PRESS C1085 and the RIP (raster image processor) performance of the Creo print controller. DBG recognised that both of these elements would combine to give it a more competitive commercial printing offering with a lower click-rate and a higher potential for value-added products and services.
The option to choose the Creo print controller was a particular selling point for DBG, as was the reliability and smooth tonal capabilities of the bizhub PRESS C1085. DBG was also fond of the printer’s small font reproduction, along with its colour range and consistency.
Philip Brown said, “We were already familiar with the Creo RIP, so the amount of retraining we needed to do was minimal. Our operators did do a training course with Konica Minolta for the bizhub PRESS C1085 prior to installation. The printer proved to meet and exceed all of our needs, and the installation process was quick and painless.”
The bizhub PRESS C1085 and Creo print controller has provided DBG with better print colour consistency, a higher print speed, and more flexibility when it comes to paper stock. At the same time, the new solution offers DBG a lower click-rate than its old printer offered, and a greater number of paper tray options. Philip Brown said, “The new printer and software give us more flexibility with our work and offer our customers a greater range of products and services. It’s also much more reliable than our previous printer, and lets us produce much higher quality print.
“We can increase our margin thanks to the lower click-charge. At the same time, the new printer’s inline finisher lets us add additional value to what we produce by giving us the capability to finish our print work in a number of different ways, depending on customers’ needs.”
The bizhub PRESS C1085 with Creo print controller lets DBG save money on each print, produce work faster, be more productive, and take on a wider range of job types with broader specifications. Additionally, the new machine’s reliability means the company requires far fewer visits from technicians than it once did.
Philip Brown said, “The service team’s capability and response times are outstanding, and the service technicians are a pleasure to work with. The reliable service and support are important to a business like ours, which depends on the C1085 every day.”
The new printer system gives DBG more printing uptime and saves money on maintenance and other costs usually associated with running commercial printing machines. Most importantly, with the bizhub PRESS C1085 DBG can be much more competitive in the local market, winning more customers and work.
