World Bank Adds Inkjet Press

The World Bank’s Printing & Multimedia Services operation has become one of the first in-plants to install a production inkjet press. Last month, the 42-employee in-plant fired up an HP T230 Color Inkjet Web Press in its Landover, Md., facility, 11 miles away from downtown Washington, D.C. With duplex printing speeds of 400 feet per minute, the inkjet press is a quantum leap over the speeds of the in-plant’s two Kodak NexPress 3000s and Océ ColorStream 10000. In fact, the first job run on the T230—800 copies of a 92-page book—would normally have taken up to eight hours to print.

“We did it in 38 minutes,” boasts Jimmy Vainstein, printing facility manager, who says operators were blown away by the difference. “Nobody could believe it.”

Vainstein says the in-plant decided to take the plunge into this new technology because of the ever-increasing demand for color printing, as well as the desire to capture more World Bank printing that is currently going to outside printers.

“With this new installation, we can now service [customers] in a blazing speed, and we can actually compete as well with any outside vendor in terms of price and capacity,” Vainstein says.

When the in-plant moved its main printing facility out of Washington, D.C., in 2011, it did not take its old Harris and Didde web presses, only its Presstek 52 DI press. The new inkjet press more than compensates for the loss of web offset capabilities

“We can now print close to offset speeds and close to price of offset, as well,” says Vainstein, who will offer a session about the benefits and challenges of implementing an inkjet press at the IPMA conference in June.

The in-plant plans to use the inkjet press to produce books, publications, reports and other items with high page counts. In time, personalized direct mail pieces may be transitioned to the press from the NexPress. The in-plant hopes to migrate 40 percent of its toner volume to the new press to take advantage of its phenomenal speeds and drastically lower costs, Vainstein says. This will open up available capacity across the shop.

On the back end, the press incorporates the Hunkeler POPP6 line of roll and sheet finishing equipment, as well as an inline Standard Horizon buckle folder and stacker.

As for the quality of the output, Vainstein is diplomatic in his response: “The quality compares to offset in certain types of things,” he says, adding that the in-plant will use a NexPress or the 52DI press when very high quality is a requirement.

One useful feature of this press is its ability to run a variety of substrates.

“It allows us to print on any substrate,” he says. This is crucial, because of The World Bank’s strong environmental focus when it comes to paper procurement. The press’s flexibility allows The Bank to continue with its sustainability stance.

“With this press, we didn’t have to sacrifice any of our paper selections,” Vainstein says.

To accomplish this substrate flexibility, the T230 lays down a bonding agent—a colorless liquid applied before any other color at the precise locations where ink is to be printed. This allows inks to dry properly, even on papers not manufactured for inkjet printing.

“We can continue buying sustainable paper, thanks to the bonding agent on the press,” Vainstein says.

The new inkjet press has initiated a significant transformation for the in-plant.

“We transitioned from being a ‘document printer’ to being a publications and commercial-type printer for our institution,” declares Vainstein. The operation is using the installation to relaunch itself, and will hold an open house next month.

“This will open up new opportunities for us, and everybody’s very excited,” proclaims Vainstein.