Sheridan Books Delivering New Manufacturing Model with HP T360 Color Inkjet Web Press

PALO ALTO, CA—Oct. 8, 2012—Sheridan Books has installed an HP T360 Color Inkjet Web Press to change its book manufacturing model and meet customer demand for increased efficiency and shorter print runs.

“As print runs decline, publishers look for more efficient ways to manufacture books in shorter runs,” said Tim Cotter, vice president of operations, Sheridan Books. “We and our customers needed a better way to address this changing print market, and the HP T360 Color Inkjet Web Press delivers that for us.”

Changing the book manufacturing model
Sheridan Books serves more than 2,000 publishers focused on trade, professional, religious, scientific, medical and technical fields, and is one of the largest book print providers to university presses in the United States. With the HP T360, the Chelsea, MI-based company can now offer customers a faster and more efficient model for the shorter run jobs out of the 20 million books it produces each year.

“With the HP high-speed inkjet platform, our shorter run customers can better manage inventories, ordering smaller quantities as needed and eliminating overhead from warehousing and unsold books,” said Cotter.

The 30˝ HP T360 is capable of production speeds up to 600 feet per minute in full color and 800 feet per minute in mono. Driven by an HP SmartStream Elite Print Server, part of the HP SmartStream Solutions Portfolio, the press delivers the speed and efficiency needed to address shorter run lengths

In addition to efficiently printing quantities of titles as they are required, the company expects to cut delivery time by 60 to 75 percent in many instances. It can offer these decreased turnaround times without compromising print quality for its customers.

Reliability and quality
Reliable, high print quality was a primary consideration for Sheridan in choosing its press. The HP T360 is built on proven HP Scalable Printing Technology, using multiple nozzles to address each pixel. This nozzle redundancy minimizes defects and helps maintain high print quality over time.

“In our research, we traveled around the globe visiting customer sites using a variety of high-speed inkjet platforms,” said Cotter. “We chose the HP T360 because of its print quality. The designed nozzle redundancy and new pigment inks eliminated defects we saw from other vendors and delivered the dark ink density we needed to match offset production. HP has the only high-speed inkjet solution we felt comfortable running alongside our heatset presses.”

About HP
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Source: HP.