Buying advice for small production brochures

advlife

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Missoula, MT
Hello, I have a travel company and we would like to change the way we produce our brochures. Rather than one brochure of a hundred pages, we would like to tailor make our brochures depending on the customer's interest. We can create the interface in our photo and content database to do this, but I need advice on what printer or press to buy.

We will print 2-3 times per week, producing approximately 600 brochures of 24-72 pages. 72 is on the large size and we could get by with a maximum of 60 pages. Average might be 48 pages of approximately 8 1/2 to 11 inch pages. This would be the equivalent of 11 sheets of 11x17 inch paper and 1 sheet of cover stock. This would be approximately 30,000 8.5 x 11 pages per month

We want the machine to fold and stable. Ideally, we could have a full bleed, so the printer would need to be able to accept larger sheets and have a finisher the would trim, staple and fold.

With the right printer, we might do other printing with the machine, adding up to another 2000-5,000 sheets per month.

We could, but don't need to, do all our normal printing, faxing and scanning with this machine.

My company is in Missoula Montana (pop 100,000), so options and expertise isn't that great. So far, the only option that has been suggested is the Konica bizhub C360 with the SD-509.

We sell a luxury product - travel to exotic locations around the world. So, we need a high quality product. Will this suffice? Seems like it isn't enough. I'd like to keep the cost at $25,000. From what I've read, the bizhub C360 doesn't trim and I'm uncertain if it can fold and staple the paper weights and quantities.

My question is, is there a printer out there that will do what I need - print, trim, staple, fold, for $25,000 or less?
 
We want the machine to fold and stable. Ideally, we could have a full bleed, so the printer would need to be able to accept larger sheets and have a finisher the would trim, staple and fold.
This would be nice, but I don't think you'll find this in your budget range.

An inline 3-knife trimmer such as a Challenge CMT-330 http://www.challengemachinery.com/products/cmt330.htm is over 70k new.

In the 25k range you can get the printer itself to handle your demands, but you're looking at about 15k more to get a booklet maker inline that will handle heavier covers, etc. You could have someone manually trim the bleeds on a 5k guillotine.
 
  • You are referring to Variable Data Printing (VDP). I work with NovaCopy, the 5th largest Konica Minolta color dealer in the country. I would agree with your concerns about the bizhub C360, this is more of an office copier. While it does have a number of features, produce quality color (with a Fiery controller), and a low sticker price, it is not the best fit for your needs.

    There are some remarkable software packages available with the Konica Minolta line, nearly 90, and that number continues to grow.

    Let's start with the hardware:
    I have a few options for you to consider...
    1) NEW - Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C6000 - includes platen cover, RADF, ES-1000 Spectrometer (for calibration), IC-413 Embedded Fiery Controller, FS-612 Booklet Finisher, FS-531 Stapling Finisher. 60 Month Lease: $535/month

    2) NEW - Konica Minolta bizhub PRESS C7000 - includes platen cover, RADF, ES-1000 Spectrometer (for calibration), IC-413 Embedded Fiery Controller, FS-612 Booklet Finisher, FS-531 Stapling Finisher. Month Lease: $595/month

    3) USED - Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6501 w/ 415k copies (discontinued Spring 2012) - includes HD-506 HDD Kit 4 x 40 GB HDD, PF-602 Paper Feed Unit w/ two 3,000 sheet drawers, FS-607 Booklet Finisher, and IC-408 Embedded Fiery Controller. Cash Price: $16,000

    4) USED - Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C5500 w/ 430k copies (discontinued in 2008) - includes IC-408 Embedded Fiery Controller, HD-506 HDD Kit 4 x 40 GB HDD, FS-520 Stapling Finisher, PK-512 Hole Punch Kit. Cash Price: $9,500

    If you have some time, shoot me an email (Nicholas.Martin@NovaCopy.com), and we will discuss software options. If you are interested in leasing one of the used options, I can provide that information as well. Any purchase through NovaCopy covers delivery, installation, and training. I can also provide service pricing, if you are interested.

    I hope I can be of assistance,

    Nicholas Martin
     
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