Making Small Print Orders Profitable at Scale · Adam Carnell & Cameron Mitchel · Route 1 Print
How do you turn thousands of small print orders into an efficient, highly automated industrial production process? At Route 1 Print in the UK, the answer lies in intelligent job aggregation, sophisticated workflow software, and investment in high-performance printing and finishing technology.
In this INKISH film, Adam Carnell, Co-CEO, explains how Route 1 Print, part of the Bluetree Group, has developed its e-commerce and trade printing business around a simple principle: combining small, individual customer orders into larger production batches and directing each job to the most suitable technology.
A central part of this strategy is the new SCREEN Truepress JET 560HDX, which replaces the company's previous generation of SCREEN inkjet presses. With production speeds of up to 150 meters per minute, improved print quality, and the ability to handle both coated and uncoated substrates, the press significantly increases capacity while reducing operator intervention.
But the story is about much more than printing speed. Route 1 Print has invested heavily in workflow automation, including SCREEN's EQUIOS software, automated job grouping, and integration with Hunkeler and other finishing technologies. Rather than treating each order as a separate production task, the company establishes continuous production streams that maximize equipment utilization and reduce per-unit cost.
Automation also extends beyond the printing presses. Robots already handle pallet movements, while the company continues to investigate how material handling, finishing, packing, and logistics can become increasingly automated.
Interestingly, Carnell does not believe that a completely lights-out printing factory is immediately achievable. Printing technology and workflow software have advanced enormously, but physically moving, handling, and packing printed products remain significant challenges. Nevertheless, certain production streams could become almost entirely automated within the next five years.
An insightful look at how one of the UK's leading online trade printers combines technology, software, and industrial thinking to make short-run printing profitable at scale—and why the next major productivity gains may happen after the printing press rather than on it.
Making One-to-One Printing Profitable Through Automation · Patrick Donner & Peter Camp · Traffic
Producing a single personalized print product profitably requires much more than digital printing technology. It demands intelligent workflows, seamless data integration, and a production environment where automation eliminates unnecessary manual processes.
In this INKISH film, Patrick Donner and Peter Camp explain how nearly 30 years of experience in digital printing, variable data, and IT have shaped a business built around individualized print production.
With HP Indigo presses, Xerox equipment, Scodix embellishment, MotionCutter technology, and automated finishing, the company handles everything from personalized direct mail to large-scale fulfillment and individually customized products, including Merci chocolate packaging.
A central part of the operation is its automated workflow that combines Enfocus Switch, PitStop Server, and Ultimate Impostrip. By standardizing incoming customer data and automating imposition, the company has significantly reduced operator intervention, improved production quality, and increased efficiency. Machine operators can concentrate on running their equipment rather than preparing individual jobs.
Perhaps most interesting is the company's approach to IT. With more software developers than bookbinders, the business considers software development and automation essential to making one-to-one production commercially viable.
And the next step? Further investment in software, digitalization, and potentially humanoid robots to support fulfillment operations as labor shortages continue to challenge the printing industry.
An interesting insight into a printing business where innovation is not simply about buying faster machines but about integrating data, software, printing, and finishing into a single efficient production process.
NOVUS Print · From PDF to Shelf with Canon, Hunkeler and Müller Martini
With more than 120 years of history, NOVUS Print is one of South Africa's most diversified printing companies, producing everything from newspapers, magazines, and commercial print to labels, packaging, and books. At its flagship facility in Cape Town, six printing technologies operate under one roof. But as traditional print markets change, NOVUS is making significant investments in what it believes is a growing opportunity: book production.
In this INKISH interview, we meet three key people behind the company's latest investment: Thinus Dixon, Managing Executive; Johnny Singh, Head of Book Production; and Johnathan Rose, Operations Manager. Together, they explain why NOVUS invested in a Canon ColorStream 8200 inkjet press, combined with Hunkeler folding technology, Müller Martini binding equipment, and the Connex workflow system.
The investment represents much more than the purchase of another printing press. NOVUS has developed an integrated production environment where customer orders can enter directly from procurement systems, automatically retrieve approved artwork and agreed pricing, and move through planning, batching, printing, and finishing with minimal manual intervention.
The objective is to change the economics of book manufacturing. While offset printing remains important for larger volumes, NOVUS can now produce shorter runs of 500 to 2,500 copies efficiently, helping publishers reduce inventory, respond faster to demand, and avoid tying up capital in warehouses. According to the team, digital printing can even offer lower production costs than conventional offset in these applications.
One of the most interesting aspects of the conversation is how NOVUS approached the investment. Rather than selecting equipment independently, the company assembled an internal team of specialists, tested its own paper and artwork, evaluated operating costs, and worked closely with its technology partners to ensure that the entire production ecosystem would perform as expected.
And this is only the beginning. NOVUS is already planning its next phase, adding monochrome inkjet printing and additional finishing capacity to serve trade publishing alongside its existing educational book business.
With newspaper volumes declining and commercial printing facing increasing competition from digital media, NOVUS sees books and packaging as attractive markets for future growth. The company's strategy demonstrates how established printing businesses can reinvent themselves by combining new technologies with intelligent automation and a clear understanding of customer needs.
An insightful conversation about the future of book production, the economics of digital inkjet, and why successful investments depend just as much on workflow, integration, and people as on the printing equipment itself.
