Client: CGP
CGP is one of the UK's largest and fastest-growing educational publishers.
Based in the Lake District, the company has a vast portfolio of school textbooks and revision guides, and has sold more than 60 million books in the past twelve years alone. Although the creation of final versions is outsourced to an external print house, CGP has an intensive, almost constant need to print on site proofs of these books, many of which are more than 200 pages long. Printing is of critical importance and as such, its choice of in-house printing solutions is crucial to success.
THE SITUATION
The introduction of a new series of revision guides for the primary and secondary school markets prompted CGP to look at additional printing resources. The company realised that delivering multiple copies of each of these books would be a significant task and they needed a robust printing solution that provided the best value-for-money.
THE SOLUTION
Sharples Group undertook a thorough review of CGP's requirements and using their expertise and extensive product knowledge presented CGP with a number of solutions from a number of vendors but ultimately decided that the OKI range offered the best solution. CGP now has a range of OKI printers across four sites, comprising a combination of OKI ES4300 mono laser printers, ES3640 high volume A3 and A4 colour printers and ES2632 fast colour and mono A4 devices to cover the publisher's printing requirements.
It uses these printers primarily to deliver proofs, including inside pages and front covers, and check that graphics, design, layout, and colour quality are of the highest possible standard. In itself this is a demanding undertaking, but each of these books will typically go through a number of iterations before CGP is fully satisfied with the end result and the document is finalised to go out to an external print house.
A delighted Stephen Ironmonger, said; "We rely heavily on printers throughout the day and our work would be very difficult without them. If our printers are not working to maximum potential nor is our business, this impacts on other tasks and causes delays and frustration. Sharples Group has worked with us to make sure we have the right equipment and service and maintenance contracts in place, keeping us operational and taking away the daily worry and risk to our business.
Accuracy and Speed
"By regular maintenance and support Sharples Group make sure the printers are delivering the accuracy of the colour output that our work demands. The colour needs to be precise to ensure that the proofs we print, match as closely as possible to the quality we are looking to achieve with the final product."
First-class Service
The reliability and rich functionality of the OKI printers together with the professional and flexible service contract with Sharples Group provides the confidence that if there is a fault on a particular device it is rapidly up and running to full capacity and providing the business with quality printing.
The Sharples Group, OKI's reseller of the year 2007 and 2008, has consistently provided CGP with excellent service. "They are knowledgeable and supportive and quick to respond to any technical issues that have arisen."
CGP was able to obtain a favourable service contract which included the use of toner and consumables. This meant that they paid a fixed price per page and did not need to buy large stocks of consumables in advance and then hold them onsite. Primarily because of the high level of colour coverage on most of CGP's printed pages, the company found it cheaper to pay at a page rate rather than buying toner in bulk.
Under Control
"Ultimately, our key requirement at CGP is for reliable printing. It is critical for the success of our business that our printing service is there when we need it and we get high-quality networked colour printing that is reliable and cost-effective. I am confident that, in light of our continuously expanding need for quality printing, we will have an ongoing requirement for OKI printers backed up with the Sharples Group support."
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