A year ago, Imp'Act carried out a major overhaul of its offset printing equipment. Based in Saint-Martin-de-Londres in the Hérault region, the 42-employee workshop, which generates sales of around 11.3 million euros, spent 5 million euros on this investment in order to "to adapt the park to the current market" .
"Every four or five years, we reinvest in our equipment, explains David Boisson, co-manager of Imp'Act. "But this time it was particularly important, given the evolution of the market. The question was simple: what is the most suitable tool today? What was true four years ago is not necessarily true today, and may not be true four years from now."
Faced with declining print runs, the company decided to reintroduce the 75 offset format, which had been abandoned when the previous fleet was renewed. Imp'Act installed a Heidelberg Speedmaster CX 75 4-P four-color Push to Stop press, equipped with a DryStar led dryer.
This press is designed for short-run jobs. "This Speedmaster is a great complement to our digital fleet" sums up David Boisson.
The company also upgraded its large-format press to a new Speedmaster XL 106-8 P Push to Stop, with eight colors in conventional configuration and all options for higher volumes.
This investment program was not limited to printing. Imp'Act also integrated a StackStar C robot, again from Heidelberg, for stacking packs at the press exit.
On the finishing side, the company has put into production an Easymatrix 106 CS diecutter from the German manufacturer. The machine handles a variety of substrates, from paper to thicker or corrugated cardboard, and incorporates a stripping station to automate this stage on complex jobs.
"One of our priorities is to offer our operators good working conditions. Putting packages on pallets all day long remains a tedious task. With this equipment, the technicians make the adjustments and a robot takes care of palletizing. For them, it's a real plus."
This equipment forms part of an organization covering the entire graphic arts chain, from prepress to finishing and dispatch.
"These investments have given us a highly flexible and comfortable machine park. We have achieved maximum optimization of our production organization. The balance sheet is particularly positive" he appreciates.
"We remain cautious in our investments and choices, but we keep moving forward and manage to find a good compromise. And above all, I'm lucky enough to be surrounded by a solid team" says the printer, never short of compliments about his team.
Following this renewal of the offset fleet, Imp'Act is now beginning to study the inkjet printing solutions available.
