Graphic communications specialist Tórculo has become the first Spanish printer to invest in a Ricoh Pro VC70000 web inkjet press in order to offer a wider range of services and to reduce the cost of book printing.
The company, which was established in 1982, has its main production site at Santiago, with regional sales offices in A Coruña, Vigo and Madrid. It already had a five-colour Ricoh Pro C7200X sheet-fed toner press for very short run work but was looking to improve its services to publishing clients to manage their libraries of titles and reprints, in order to meet trends for shorter runs and tighter deadlines.
Tórculo president Jacobo Bermejo explained the purchase thus: ‘The market requires faster production of shorter runs with variability and customisation. Those are the strengths of digital printing. The technology has matured a lot in a short time and now meets our requirements. The Ricoh Pro VC70000 is unique in today’s market for its ability to work with offset and coated paper alike and that will allow us to deliver a greater variety of applications. We can tackle market spaces that until now were very difficult or elusive. We were also impressed by Ricoh’s commitment to our business. Our sales and marketing team is already working with Ricoh on a development programme to ensure we maximise the opportunities the investment offers.’
The ability to work with both coated and uncoated papers without the need for priming was a factor in favour of the Ricoh web press, as was the facility to batch and nest work for maximum material efficiency. Mr Bermejo was also keen to work with Ricoh’s Edge business development consultancy service to identify opportunities that the new press will enable.
‘We were looking for a partner and Ricoh has proven to be a very reliable and committed one, not only from a technological point of view but also in business development areas. This is very important for us as this is a huge investment for a mid-size company like Tórculo. Ricoh understands this and brings not only technology but also knowledge sharing and support in many areas like sales, communications, targeting, workflow and so on,’ he noted.
