Advice on purchasing digtal production machine for smaller print shop

[jodyreese]

Folks, I'm looking for advice on what machine we should purchase. We'll be making a decision before the end of the year.

Right now we're running jobs on our Ricoh C4501 and it's been doing a great job (we have a Xerox 7335 for a back-up). Great colors -- handle solids and stays consistent. We can duplex 100 # cover at 11x17 and find the registration and skew are within our needs (maybe off a couple of mm). We pay next to nothing for the machine -- $240 a month, but our click charges are high ($.13 for 12x18 on color at $.018 for B/W for 12x18). This has worked OK for us since our in-house volume has been low (we broker most of our work).

But that is changing. Our in-house volume has been growing as our customers want faster turns and our Ricoh can't keep up plus the click charges are too high for us to use this as a production machine any more.

Service with the Ricoh has been good. The techs are just down the street. KM techs are about an hour away as are Xerox techs.

Our budget for the new machine is between $50,000 and $100,000 -- we're looking for the maintenance to come in at about $.04 for color and .005 for B/W. We are open to used machines if they make sense.

Our criteria:
Duty cycle: 100,000+ a month
Duplex 110 # cover (300 gsm) 12x18 or large 13x19 would be nice
40 color per minute or more.
It needs to hold solid colors and stay in registration -- and be consistent.

We are looking at a couple of machines.
Ricoh 651-751
Ricoh C901
Xerox 700
Xerox 5000AP used
KM 6000/7000
Canon 6000/7000 used

 

[giant1958]

the xerox 700 will not duplex 100# cover....(I wish it did)

 

[jodyreese]

Thanks -- that really takes it out of the running for us. I know that we can run each side separately -- and we do do that plenty, but one of the reasons for an upgrade is the ability to move jobs through our shop faster. The big contenders really seem to be the KM 6000/7000 and Ricoh 651-751. My concern with the Ricoh is that we've heard horror stories about the 751 with banding and with the KM 6000 we've heard issue with skewing and registration.

Are both those concerns overblown?

 

[giant1958]

I personally dont know anything about the others...we have a Xerox 700....its a good machine but if looking to duplex 100#cover...look elsewhere....good luck

 

[ErnieLail]

We have a 6000 & 8000. Run tons of duplex 100# Cover, probably around the same monthly clicks as you mentioned. Both machines are great. The 8000 is a little more problematic vs the 6000. Either way expect some down time, but with the 8000 expect more down time. I would go with a 7000 because it's basically a 6000 with an extra fuser to increase speed. That would be a nice balance between the 8000's problems and the 6000's speed IMO.

Just be sure to get the best trays on whatever KM press you buy & make sure they train your people on how to properly set them up. The cheaper trays caused us 1/16-1/8 variation in registration. After purchasing the top of the line trays and being taught how to set them up, we are down to 1/32"-1/16".

Booklet making is slow on either machine IMO. If you do many booklets i would purchase a horizon booklet maker vs the inline booklet maker. Dont get me wrong, it's nice for small quantity books. Large quantity booklets will kill production though.

 

[arossetti]

The Xerox 700 will not duplex 100# cover, the Xerox 700i or Xerox 770 will duplex 100# cover. I don't think Xerox is selling 700's anymore just 700i/770.

 

[jodyreese]

Have you had any issue with skewing? Or do you think that has more to do with the trays as you mentioned?

 

[JayDA]

I agree with the above suggestion of a KM7000, don't know if you'll get the click charge quite that low without a large commitment, but it'll duplex 100# cover all day.

 

[Mark Flanders]

I've run the C900 Ricoh. It's a pretty decent machine. Duty cycle matches.

 

[jodyreese]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. We went went the KM C7000 for a lot of reasons, including its price. Once we get it installed and running we'll report back with our level of satisfaction.

 

[Erniek]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. We went went the KM C7000 for a lot of reasons, including its price. Once we get it installed and running we'll report back with our level of satisfaction.

I would like to hear your impressions as well. We have had a 7000 for a little over a year and are having issues with banding that KM has not been able to resolve satisfactorily through KM service.