Mount Street Printers
Case Study • Production Print • Commercial Printer
Ricoh partnership enhances prestige brand for luxury stationery printer
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Mount Street PrintersCase Study
When Mount Street Printers met Ricoh over ten years ago it started a personalised business partnership that helped the printer embrace digital technology to complement its traditional print craftsmanship. The journey has seen Mount Street Printers grow from a small operation to a 34-strong commercial printer delivering high-quality goods to customers around the world including the UK royal family.
Executive Summary
Challenges
Solution
Benefits
Case Study | Mount Street Printers
Name
Location
London, UK
Size
34 staff
Activity
Commercial printing
Advance the use of digital printing
Expand product and service offering
Ricoh Production Print Service
Personal relationship underpinned by corporate resources
Delivers an enduring 10-year-plus business partnership
Opens up new markets and service opportunities
Supports automated web-to-print functions
Helps enhance and develop luxury, prestige brand
Complements traditional print techniques and craftsmanship
You would be hard pushed to find a more experienced or high-quality provider of specialised, luxury print and stationery products than Mount Street Printers. King Charles III is a customer.
From its prestigious shop in Mayfair and production site in West London, the family business has been providing high-quality products and services to individuals, corporations and prestigious brands worldwide since its inception in 1981.
The 34-strong team of print craftspeople use a range of traditional print techniques to create personalised writing paper and envelopes, business stationery, wedding invitations, cards and a whole lot more.
The traditional print techniques and skills Mount Street Printers employs, which are not often available from most commercial printers, include engraving, litho, letter press, foil stamping and blind embossing. For example, the company offers hot-foil printing on stock sizes ranging from B2 to tiny letters. The company is one of a select group of printers in the UK offering engraved stationery using die-stamping techniques.
While it is the traditional techniques, craftsmanship and pride in quality that set Mount Street Printers apart from other printers, the company saw an opportunity to marry traditional processes with modern digital printing. When managing director, Alex Cain and son of the founders, was introduced to Ricoh, it was the start of a close relationship that has endured for over ten years.
Cain said, “Strong, trust-based business relationships are overlooked these days, but I believe they are important. Mount Street Printers has invested in digital printing and it is reassuring to know that we can count on Ricoh and its personalised, human approach to partnerships to support and care for us.”
“We’ve been with Ricoh for many years and to date we have not been let down. When upgrading our digital printers, we looked at other manufacturers, but that is where relationships are important and a key reason for using Ricoh. Consistency in the partnership as well as the solutions and services are what we value with Ricoh,” added Cain.
The partnership with Mount Street Printers which balances the resources of a global business with a local personal touch, has been developed and fostered by Adam Cooper, a Commercial and Industrial Sales Specialist within the Ricoh Graphic Communications Group.
Above and beyond the standard support, Adam and his team are always available on the end of the phone if we have any issue or just need advice. For instance, we have an agreement where Ricoh will come in every quarter to teach us new tricks and techniques about its technology.
Since Mount Street Printers first started using digital print it has been a Ricoh customer. Recently the company has upgraded two of its three existing Ricoh printers to next generation Ricoh Pro C9500 digital colour sheetfed presses. The solution includes Fiery Command WorkStation software for streamlining print production workflows with additional add-ons such as Fiery Impose and Fiery Hot Folders.
“Mount Street Printers provides its customers with specialised, high-quality products and we want to stay at the forefront of technology to continue to deliver great products and great service. Investing in the latest Ricoh digital print technology enables us to continually improve image quality and leverage next-generation advancements. The Ricoh presses do a great job producing and driving forward our digital print output,” said Cain.
The company uses the Ricoh presses to enhance and support its traditional print offering and expand its products and services. For example, producing proofs quickly and at low cost instead of more time-consuming and costly traditional processes. Digital printing is adept at fast turnaround, short-run printing, quick ink-drying time and supporting variable data printing. The technology can produce near-litho-like reproductions and accurate, consistent image registration.
Ricoh equipment also supports Mount Street Printers’ sustainability aims with lower energy use, and fast start up from sleep.
“The Ricoh digital print technology gives us that extra channel of being able to produce, for example, short-run colour work with a quick turnaround which has opened up new markets for us and now represent a growing part of the business. It means that now there isn’t much print work that we cannot do,” said Cain.
Large-format B2 colour printing is a new market opportunity that the company is looking to exploit using digital print technology. This includes product packaging, and non-standard size brochures. A key advantage of using large-sized paper stock is better productivity and fast turnaround since B2 accommodates more printing on a single sheet.
The Ricoh solution has also helped Mount Street Printers introduce new services such as web-to-print. The company creates a portal for a customer so they can submit print jobs online. Required job specifications, paper stock, typeface, quantities and associated items like logo image files are entered into the portal and then sent directly to the Ricoh presses to be printed. The kind of work being done via web-to-print typically includes repetitive jobs like property brochures, restaurant menus, invitations and business stationery.
Ricoh has seen Mount Street Printer start from a small outfit and has been by our side on the journey to becoming what is now a large and prestigious business with a strong brand reputation. We’re pleased with the Ricoh partnership and very mindful of how important it is both during good and bad times. We are always looking to improve the quality of the service we offer, and Ricoh helps us do that.”
Solutions/Products
Ricoh Pro C9500 digital presses
Fiery software
We’ve been with Ricoh for many years and to date we have not been let down. When upgrading our digital printers, we looked at other manufacturers, but that is where relationships are important and a key reason for using Ricoh. Consistency in the partnership as well as the solutions and services are what we value with Ricoh.”
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