The service technician has been installing the new digital press for the past few hours. Our press is the MGI DP60 digital press, and although we could have run the Social Print Experiment with any press – HP, NexPress, or an iGen – we chose the MGI for three reasons.
First, the format size. The press has a maximum sheet size from the pile (input tray) of 13″ by 40.15″ with a standard configuration of 13″ x 26″ – perfect for doing a three-panel brochure. Maximum paper thickness is 16pt, which is another differentiator in the market. It also prints on nearly every substrate you can imagine, from static cling to magnets to plastic.
Second, it prints envelopes, from a #9 to a catalog envelope, and almost a full bleed. The toner lays flat on the envelope, giving it an offset print look. It prints around 2,000 envelopes an hour – not super-fast, but a respectable speed.
Third, it has no click charge. When you purchase a press, you fly down to Florida for a week of training on press repair. There is a service contract you can get with the press, but for the most part you repair the press as needed, and only call service for what you can’t figure out. It’s a great service model, similar to the Kodak NexPress ORC plan. I expect our cost per copy to fall in the 5 cent range on average for a tabloid sheet size, but it really depends on coverage. Envelopes should cost around a penny to produce (not including stock).
The purchase price of the press is about $250,000 brand new. In retrospect, if we wanted to keep our costs down, we could have gone with a refurbished to factory spec press for less money, but again, the MGI press is a differentiator and I think in the long run will pay for itself many times over.
We expect to be printing by Friday. We won’t have our web-to-print up and operational at that time; we’re still trying to decide on which one to use. We’ll have more on that over the next few days.
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