Printed Cup Company Creates New Business Vision With Ricoh Pro™ C9110 order at Drupa 2016
04.06.2016

Printed Cup Company Creates New Business Vision With Ricoh Pro™ C9110 order at Drupa 2016

Ricoh UK, London, 4 June 2016 – The Printed Cup Company plans to make printed cup runs-of-one a profitable reality with the help of a Ricoh Pro™ C9110 heavy duty colour sheetfed press. The firm that calls itself the fastest manufacturer of cups in the Europe signed the deal on Ricoh’s drupa 2016 stand in Hall 8a. 

The Lancashire operation has 40 employees and has seen turnover grow from £2.1m to £3.5m in the last 12 months. CEO Mark Woodward expects this to continue once the new Ricoh printer is commissioned.

He says: “When we started the business over 10 years ago you could order only 100,000 printed paper cups or more, so we wanted to offer runs of 10,000. Then manufacturers in China started doing the same thing so we lost our USP. 

“We looked at offering 1,000 cups, all personalised, in a 24 hour turnaround instead of the usual three weeks. But then why not take that further? Now, with the new press, we can produce single cups on demand within an hour.”

Finding the right solution took six months of intensive market evaluation. Says Woodward: “We did an enormous amount of research into toner-based versus inkjet and narrowed down the choice to nine suppliers. After testing at Ricoh’s Customer Experience Centre in Telford, UK, we chose the Ricoh Pro C9110 because of its ability to handle the right substrate used in cup forming. We also liked its speed of 130ppm.” 

He continues: “The thickness is usually 210gsm to 300gsm and the stock is coated on the bottom with a waterproof coating. We also needed a process that was robust enough so the inks dried and the print quality remained high. The Ricoh system does what we need it to.”

He adds: “Now we can print an order of one or, say, 726. Customers are no longer tied to minimum order quantities.”

As for the impact on the business Woodward states: “We have had interest from household names. I think it will take us up another 50% in turnover in the next 12 months with the expected growth in short run print. It no longer matters what the order size is - we can deliver any amount.”

Stephen Palmer, Director of Production Print, Ricoh UK, said: “The variety of business that the Ricoh production printing portfolio can support is as broad as the imagination of our fast growing community of clients in this vibrant and creative industry we share. We are excited to see how we can work with the Printed Cup Co to help make their vision a successful and profitable reality.”

The Ricoh Pro C9100 series runs at speeds up to 130ppm. It supports uncoated, textured and coated media up to 400gsm, as well as duplexed long sheet printing up to 700mm and even speciality media, such as super gloss, magnetic, transparent and synthetic. 

An enhanced version of Ricoh’s Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser technology provides image quality up to 1200 x 4800 dpi while high colour consistency is assured by Ricoh’s automatic image feedback technology which provides continuous colour density calibration.

Maximum uptime is delivered via a liquid cooling system for continuous printing, enhanced ORUs (Operator Replaceable Units) and toner bottles, and media changes on the fly.                     

|About Ricoh|

Ricoh is a leading provider of integrated digital services and print and imaging solutions designed to support digital transformation of workplaces, workspaces and optimize business performance.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Ricoh’s global operation reaches customers in approximately 200 countries and regions, supported by cultivated knowledge, technologies, and organizational capabilities nurtured over its 85-year history. In the financial year ended March 2023, Ricoh Group had worldwide sales of 2,134 billion yen (approx. 16.0 billion USD).

It is Ricoh’s mission and vision to empower individuals to find Fulfillment through Work by understanding and transforming how people work so we can unleash their potential and creativity to realize a sustainable future. 

For further information, please visit www.ricoh.com

For further information, please contact: 

Ricoh UK
Monika Orolinova
Tel: +44 20 7655 0100
Email: press@ricoh.co.uk


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