Go with the flow

The size of the print run is neither here nor there. 100 or 300 – a continuous workflow is what makes for efficiency.

PAP emballage & display, Vejle, Denmark. Board, board and more board: thats what its all about at PAP. The team of 25 uses it to make POP/POS items and packaging, prototypes included. The firm is also well known for optimising existing designs and solutions, whether in terms of creativity or economy.

PAP started business in 2008. The company has grown steadily since then. In 2015, it relocated to larger premises in Vejle. At last. Here everything is inviting, airy and bright. Equipment transferred as part of the move included the production centrepiece: an Oryx flatbed printer. With six colour channels, it is configured to handle every requirement of PAP and its clientele. PAP handles shorter runs – starting at one item – in-house. The team farms out larger projects to other printing firms after the item is ready for series production. Be it a small or large order, PAP frequently develops ideas which end up making the product that little bit more successful than others of its kind, both in terms of impact and budget.

Saving time and money

During the development process, internal procedures in no way escape this kind of critical examination. On the contrary: the decision to buy the Oryx large format printer rested on precisely this drive for efficiency. “The Oryx has brought production back onto our own premises“, explains Frank Rosenquist, head of marketing and production at PAP. They previously used outside printing capacity. Samples would make several round trips before the result was right. ”The investment has been more than worth it. We save incredible amounts of time and shipping costs”, adds Rosenquist. A simultaneous increase in the volume of orders confirms their decision all the more.

Frank Rosenquist: “The Oryx has brought production back onto our own premises.”

Easily expandable

Today, it is PAP employee Rasmus Skaamming who is turning out the prints. He works daily with the Oryx, and what he appreciates most of all is how fast and easy it is to set up a job on the machine. It is a user-friendly system, and it is also good to know that it could be expanded at any time. By adding or changing around colour channels, for example: two out of the maximum of eight colour channels are still free. They could be configured with orange, green or violet to extend the colour gamut as and when customers need it, and for matching Pantone colours. Upgrades like these would be handled by NIZE equipment, the swissQprint partner in Scandinavia. They perform regular maintenance on the Oryx and Skaamming stays in close contact with the team. Not least because he gets a steady stream of useful everyday tips from the experienced technicians.

Print runs start at one item

Another centre of satisfaction is the customers, who include big brands. Their communication departments get unique and top quality products from PAP: from prototypes through to ready-to-use POS/POP displays and on to comprehensive packaging solutions. As a sideline, PAP occasionally takes on smaller signage jobs – because the Oryx is also capable of handling those.

Rasmus Skaamming: “The Oryx is very easy to use. Setting up jobs is both quick and simple.”

Trend to individualisation

Frank Rosenquist sees yet more potential. They are thinking about hiring a customer advisor specifically to attract jobs for the Oryx. ”The advantages of digital printing have not yet fully arrived in the market”, he thinks. These include individualisation of printed products. Rosenquist spots a trend here. He has observed increasing segmentation and how, for example, chainstores have been individually adapting content for branches.

Fully integrated process

Whether it is 300 identical items or 100 each of three variants is immaterial for PAP. Workflows are set up for end-to-end efficiency. The in-house pre-press department works with Caldera GrandRIP+. Data presently output on the Oryx continue on to a Zünd cutter, with the necessary extra information. This machine creases and cuts items after printing. Before printing, flat board is sometimes glued onto corrugated cardboard and processed in that form. Post-process, some items will receive a coat of varnish to extend their life cycle.

PAP is on the up and up in its own life cycle. Rosenquist and his team look to the future with curiosity and confidence. Board remains their material, and their desire is to give it ever new forms and colours.