New acquisition provides fulfilment services company with enhanced capabilities

Nationally recognized as a leader in fulfillment processing, Columbia, SC-based Spectra Integration prides itself on being the “one source” for fulfillment solutions, boasting a wide array of services, from printing and fulfillment to incentives, promotions, and marketing.

Through its Smart Fulfillment Program, the company partners with organizations to design, manufacture, store, manage and distribute all their marketing kit materials on demand, maximizing their return on investment.

Print management remains at the heart of Spectra Integration’s business, including Web2Print, variable data printing, black and white digital documents, digital book publishing, commercial print and large format display graphics. The company has streamlined the print procurement process for its customers through the creation of a secure, online e-business dialog that makes the entire print buying process easier, reduces response time, and accelerates production.

Over the past decade, Spectra Integration’s digital print business has soared 2,000 percent, according to Walter Kohn, president, director of sales. At the same time, the amount of on-demand work the company is asked to perform has also increased dramatically. The average turnaround on Spectra’s digital work currently stands at 24 to 72 hours, with up to 80 percent turned around in three days or less.

“It’s definitely an on-demand world,” said Kohn. “Print what they need when they need it. That’s what our clients pay us for.”

This massive increase in digital printing proved to be a challenge for Spectra Integration, particularly because its existing system was not able to meet the quality expectations of its client base. To keep pace with the current demand, with an eye on expanding into new markets in the future, Spectra Integration opted to invest in a new digital color printing system. They selected the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP with inline booklet trimmer and UV coater.

Stellar Output, Inline Options

The Canon imagePRESS C7010VP system appealed to Spectra Integration because of its stellar-quality, ease-of-use, low-cost, low-maintenance requirements. However, the inline binding capabilities proved to be the biggest deciding factor.

“Before, we had to take our materials and print them digitally and then take them to a traditional bindery,” said Kohn. “It just wasn’t efficient. It cost us too much money and too much time. Having the inline binding with the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP has really sped up our delivery.”

Companies like Spectra Integration find everything they need in the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP digital color printing system because they can choose the combination of server, input, output, and finishing configurations that best meets their unique needs, according to Francis A. McMahon, Vice President, Marketing, Production Printing Solutions division of Canon Solutions America.

“The Canon imagePRESS C7010VP delivers quality, productivity, reliability, and versatility, with consistent performance and seamless integration into a company’s existing workflow,” said McMahon. “That makes it the ideal choice for just about any print provider today.”

Green and Growing

As passionate about the environment as they are about providing stellar service, Spectra Integration has embraced environmentally sound practices through certifications, continual process improvement practices, and technology investments. Not surprisingly, the reduced carbon footprint of the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP system proved a huge selling point for Spectra Integration, as they weighed their many options for a new digital color press.

“With some of the other machines, you have to waste so much paper and so much toner to reach the desired results, but Canon solved that problem,” said Kohn. “It’s a very efficient machine with very little waste. It uses a minimal amount of electricity and it’s got a small carbon footprint.”

Kohn credits Spectra Integration’s Canon Solutions America sales representative with helping the company identify the perfect digital color press for their specific needs. While the cutting edge technology of the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP system certainly set the company apart from its competitors, Kohn said the ongoing commitment Canon Solutions America demonstrates to its customers may be even more invaluable.

“Our relationship with Canon Solutions America is less about the document printing and more about their ability to customize a front-end solution for the customer,” said Kohn. “That’s what they bring to the table.”

About Spectra Integration

For more than 30 years, Spectra Integration has delivered unrivaled service and individualized attention to its corporate client base. A full-service marketing, printing, kitting, and promotional products company, Spectra Integration boasts a comprehensive suite of innovative fulfillment services designed to give its customers the ability to tailor marketing campaigns to increase direct response rates and provide an all-around better experience for their customers. Spectra Integration’s clients include companies of all sizes across a wide variety of industries, including insurance, health care, financial services, and manufacturing. 

About the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP System

Designed to deliver the highest digital color quality, power through the toughest deadlines, and expand a commercial printer’s job mix, the Canon imagePRESS C7010VP system combines advanced digital color technology with world class support.  A high-volume printer, it produces vibrant, top-quality color output with an offset look and feel, all while maintaining a consistent speed of up to 4,500 images per hour – on any supported media.

The Canon imagePRESS C7010VP system boasts class-leading image quality with 1,200 dpi resolution and 256 gradations per color, advanced toner technology, image control technologies, automatic real-time color calibration, gloss optimization technology, and precision printing thanks to active registration and automatic shrinkage compensation. Meanwhile, X-rite® i1Process Control color management software simulates spot colors, validates digital proofs, manages color profiles, profile monitors and CMYK printers and creates a library of color palettes. Its dual fusing technology delivers continuous productivity up to 71.6 images per minute on any media up to 325 g/m2, while eight input trays with enhanced vacuum-feed technology supply 10,000 sheets of different stock, reliably feeding even the most static coated paper.

The Canon imagePRESS C7010VP system also boasts extensive media handling and finishing capabilities, including support for lightweight, coated, offset, labels & specialty stocks, with weights from 60 g/m2 to 325 g/m2 and coated stock as light as 70 g/m2; choice of inline finishing options, including an integrated saddle-stitcher to produce three-side trimmed booklets; and two high capacity stackers plus additional finishing modules providing up to 17,000-sheet output capacity.

The Canon imagePRESS C7010VP digital color press is available in a variety of server, input, output and finishing configurations to meet a wide range of requirements:

• Up to two high-capacity paper decks with visual indicators that track media fill levels and eight paper trays that hold any supported stock
• Up to two High Capacity Stackers
• Document Inserter
• Staple finisher with optional 2- and 4-hole Puncher Unit staples 100 pages
• Saddle finisher delivering all features of the staple finisher and additionally producing booklets of up to 100 pages with innovative saddle press technology to ensure that booklets lay flat, plus optional three-knife booklet trimmer
• Perfect binder for three-side trimmed glue-bound books/manuals of up to 200 pages
• Choice of controllers to suit your unique job mix
• Professional punch unit with 12 different punch patterns such as color coil and pro click

About Canon Solutions America, Inc.

Combining the strengths of the former Canon Business Solutions, Inc. and Océ North America, Inc., Canon Solutions America provides industry leading enterprise services, advanced production print technology and large format solutions supported by experienced professional service offerings. Canon Solutions America helps companies of all sizes to improve their business by increasing efficiency, controlling costs and becoming more environmentally conscious.  A wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A, Inc. Canon Solutions America is headquartered in Lake Success, NY and has nearly 7,000 employees in 130 offices across the country. For more information on Canon Solutions America, please visit www.csa.canon.com.

About Canon U.S.A., Inc.                                                                             

Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions. With approximately $45.6 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents registered in 2011† and is one of Fortune Magazine's World’s Most Admired Companies in 2012. In 2012, for the ninth consecutive year, Canon U.S.A. has received the PCMag.com Readers’ Choice Award for Service and Reliability. Committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, Canon U.S.A. provides 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss.