Esser printSolutions GmbH, based in Bretten near Karlsruhe, Germany, is a long-established medium-sized company now in its fourth generation. Founded in 1905, the company started out as a letterpress printer, then added a newspaper press to its portfolio before moving into conventional offset printing. In 2001, the company, which had previously been based in the centre of Bretten, moved to a new building outside the town centre. The move also marked the company's entry into digital printing, which was still in its infancy. Our first digital press was a small DocuColor from Xerox.
The possibilities were revolutionary for the time:
Business cards with a print run of 10, books with a print run of 1 and very small quantities on brochures. Of course, the quality back then was not comparable to that of today, but our interest and that of our customers was aroused," recalls Diana Esser, authorised signatory for sales and marketing at Esser printSolutions. Diana Esser, who married into the traditional family business, saw the new technology as an opportunity to make a successful contribution to the company: As a newcomer to the industry, I immediately turned to this new, exciting technology, because I couldn't easily catch up with the knowledge lead of the long-established printers.
With the new technology, which was also new to everyone else in the company, I saw a good opportunity to position myself and get to grips with it from the ground up. I recognised the new opportunities and products that this opened up for us and very quickly attracted the interest of our customers". Eventually, Diana approached the company's largest customer at the time, a leading manufacturer of domestic appliances, for whom the company had been printing operating manuals for around 80 years. In terms of processing, this meant a three-month lead time for operating manuals, which were always kept on call at Esser printSolutions. Together with representatives of her customer, Diana Esser visited a demo centre, was shown the possibilities of digital printing and convinced the industrial customer to get on board with the new technology.
With the HP T230, I can charge exactly for what I use, just like offset. That pays off for us and our customers, because it makes a big difference whether my customer needs a little ink or a lot. This difference can now be determined very precisely by adjusting the required area coverage and adapted to the customer's wishes," says Diana Esser, who is delighted with the new calculation basis. Another plus point for the HP T230 was its wide range of substrates.
If required, the lnkjet web press can apply a bonding agent, which is applied precisely where the colour dot is to be placed.
This keeps the ink droplets on the surface, allowing the use of paper that is not normally suitable for inkjet printing - without changing the feel. With the new investment in the HP T230 Colour Inkjet Web Press, Esser Print Solutions is using a system that achieves a maximum speed of 122 metres per minute in single and full colour printing. The HP T230 requires a huge throughput to be profitable. Its print job requirements should not be underestimated. We have created a comprehensive solution for all our customers' printing needs, with the new high-performance web press at its heart. Integrated into our specially designed workflow, production runs seamlessly and in close collaboration with our customer," explains Diana Esser. Today the company delivers manuals just in sequence.
In practice, this means that Esser printSolutions delivers the manuals to the customer in pre-picked packages with a lead time of just four hours.
Esser print Solutions supplies everything as it is produced and required by its customers.
From the operating instructions to the recipe book, warranty card, installation template, etc., everything is organized by country and language. In addition, separate components that are additionally required - such as plugs that deviate from the EU standard - are also added to the orders. In order to be able to implement this seamless, purely demand-oriented solution just-in-time, Esser print Solutions is connected to its customer online via a specially programmed workflow solution.
This close integration opens up completely new reaction time windows for the company and its customers. In addition, the company also produces many books in small and very small print runs or books on demand with a direct link to the publishers' online stores. When an order is received by the publisher, it appears directly on the new web press without having to go through the publisher. Five employees have been trained for the HP T230, but the high level of automation means that, depending on the job structure, each operator can usually operate two more digital presses in the sheetfed area. Esser printSolutions prints and sends the books produced in this way directly to the customer.
The same approach applies to the photo book sector, where the company produces photo books on behalf of customers via various websites.
The customer structure in publishing is very heterogeneous, says Diana Esser. However, the majority of her customers are in the education sector. This is an interesting area for digital printing because education is becoming more individualised and specialised. Smaller class sizes, country-specific content, learning content for highly specialised professions - all of this speaks to shorter print runs. "We were particularly impressed by HP's innovative thermal inkjet print head technology, which can be retrofitted on site at any time," says Diana Esser.
The new press has enabled the company to win new customers and is now scoring points in the mailing sector, where it was not represented before the new installation. The more variations there are, the shorter the run and the more complex the finishing - these are the parameters that characterise our company. This is where we are strong and where we can score with our expertise and workflow structure," explains Diana Esser. In order to perfect the close integration with the customer, around five per cent of the staff at Esser printSolutions work in the programming department. In addition to the permanent programmers, the company also has access to a large pool of freelance specialists.
Interlocking with the customer is something that most print service providers are not yet able to do. But if you are a service provider and you only offer what everyone else can do, you quickly get caught up in the price spiral and someone will always be cheaper than you. Our philosophy is to offer solutions to our customers, and that is where our strength lies. We take a close look at our customers' workflows and see where the problem or need for action lies. We offer much more than just a print product; we look at how we can best adapt to the customer and solve most of their problems. This is attractive to our customers because they have a reliable solution provider in us, and at the same time it is of great interest to us because the closer the customer allows us to dock onto their structures, the less interchangeable we are.
On the one hand, it is a great relief for our customers because we take over the areas that are problematic for them, but on the other hand, it is always a challenge to give an external service provider such a deep insight into their structures and to get so closely involved. But the concept works to everyone's satisfaction," says Diana Esser, summarising the company's recipe for success.
