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A well-respected commercial print company, Revolution Print has been operating in Ballarat, Victoria since the 1900s. Formerly named KingPrint, the company changed its name to Revolution Print, complementing a strong desire to transform and shake up the traditional, analogue print industry. Revolution Print wants to continue enhancing its capacity to print and create large-scale, efficient, quality print jobs, and achieve further automation and digitisation within the company.
"The AccurioJet KM-1 complements our vision, and is an integral part of Revolution Print’s growth."
- Leon Wilson, Director, Revolution Print
Revolution Print aims to drive improvements and to be a game changer in the print industry through technology, automation, and digitisation. The company continues to acknowledge the crucial nature of innovating and modernising, while maintaining its reputation throughout Victoria, and Australia, as an esteemed, experienced, reliable, and quality print provider.
Revolution Print’s name change occurred during a revolutionary time for the company itself. In a bid to create positive change in the print industry, Revolution Print built a comprehensive online ordering and processing platform, and switched to automated management information system (MIS) upgrades, impositioning, communication, and dispatch procedures. At the same time, the business undertook an acquisition strategy, popping up multiple shopfronts around Australia.
Leon Wilson, Director, Revolution Print, said, “Revolution Print understood the need to embrace change and take on new technology. To optimise our growth, and bring the best quality and most efficient outcomes to our customers, we knew that we’d need to change the way we print, so we could produce smarter, more economical print jobs.”
Revolution Print’s success meant it needed a new digital press to complement its existing digital and offset traffic.
Acknowledging the technology required to achieve change, Leon Wilson and his business partner, John Schreenan, viewed a range of inkjet machines on show at the Drupa International Trade Fair in Germany.
Leon Wilson said, “Of all the inkjet concepts on display, the KM-1 stood out because of its simplicity and the way it ran. I was lucky enough to speak to one of the engineers who explained how it was built, and it just made sense. I knew that when it came time to invest in inkjet, the AccurioJet KM-1 was my first choice.
“When we came back to Ballarat, we thought that perhaps it might be worth revisiting a little later down the track. Then we discovered that another local commercial printer already had a KM-1 in operation. They shared their story with us, and let us perform test runs. This gave us a lot of faith in the technology. Watching how the machine ran gave us a lot of confidence and, so far, it’s a dramatic success.”
The KM-1 is a sheet-fed UV inkjet press that delivers all the quality and versatility of offset printing with the convenience and flexibility of digital printing on any type of stock. New applications made possible by the KM-1 include packaging, personalised packaging, niche marketing with specialty stocks, and more.
Embracing the AccurioJet KM-1 was a big risk for Revolution Print, particularly being an early adopter of new and innovative print equipment. The team was concerned about whether the overall outcome was worth the risk.
Leon Wilson said, “Ultimately, Revolution Print’s values lie in changing the game and moving the industry forward, and we couldn’t do that without taking a risk and walking the walk.”
Revolution Print has found that the inkjet technology and, in particular, the AccurioJet KM-1, is the solution to a problem it didn’t know it had.
Leon Wilson said, “It’s a great hybrid for medium to large digital quantities and small to medium offset quantities. The KM-1 complements both the digital and offset sides of the business perfectly.”
The KM-1 is improving profit in two ways for Revolution Print.
Leon Wilson said, “The KM-1 lets us print jobs digitally that would otherwise have been printed on offset due to sheet size. This results in stock savings and more efficient use of staff time. There are a lot of hidden factors involved in the traditional processes and, with the AccurioJet KM-1, there are a lot of business savings to be had, which contribute to overall profitability.
“The machine lets us print small quantities of large-format posters with exceptional quality. We have been using this value-add as a sales tool to win jobs. When printing with uncoated stocks on the KM-1, the look and feel is just better, which means we can offer a premium product.”
Revolution Print is now set up to be flexible so it can quickly move to take advantage of new opportunities when they arise.
Leon Wilson said, “The way things are going, we may get business to a point where we are 24/7. We are confident that the KM-1 will support our long-term goals and will be able to run all through the day and night. Our future plans involve continuing to shape the business around automation and technology for the benefit of the industry and our customers, with equipment such as the AccurioJet KM-1 to back us up.
