News

October 26, 2014

Fresh Color adds CP Bourg 3200 perfect binding system with in-line 3-knife trimming

Produces 300 perfect-bound books per hour—ready to ship right after binding.

The binding system is the perfect for producing very-high-quality marketing collateral to satisfy our discerning clients.

August 19, 2014

Fresh Color installs Zund G3 3200XL cutter/router, doubling finishing capacity

This is our second Zund G3, enables us to finish projects as fast as we can print them.

We've had great success with our Zund G3 2500, so when it came time to increase finishing throughput to handle our printing capacity, it was an easy decision to buy a 3200. The 3200 has a larger 70 X 120 bed size, helpful for cutting larger boards and banner/fabric materials. We ordered the roll-to-roll option (and added that to our Zund 2500), as well as Zund's powerful new tool, which does industry-best cutting and scoring of all corrugated materials.

July 25, 2014

Fresh Color installs 2 Fuji Acuity large-format UV printers

Company now has 5 large-format UV printers for greater capacity and scheduling flexibility.

Our Fuji Acuities are the same basic printer as our 2 Arizonas—except that they print 2nd magenta and 2nd cyan for faster print speeds and even smoother large-area solids. Both have ToshibaTec 8-level grayscale heads (for variable droplet-size printing) and utilize large-gamut, strong-adhesion Fuji Sericol inks. With this installation, Fresh Color now is one of the most capable high-impact large-format printers in the U.S.

April 22, 2014

Fresh Color installs Screen TruePress 2500 large-format UV printer

New printer has 2 white heads, Light Cyan/Light Magenta, prints 2-sided clings, and up to 98" rolls

We have been extremely happy with our Oce' Arizona UV printers, and the Screen 2500 is a great complement to them. Our Fuji Acuities are the same basic printer as our 2 Arizonas—except that they print 2nd magenta and 2nd cyan for faster print speeds and even smoother large-area solids. Both have ToshibaTec 8-level grayscale heads (for variable droplet-size printing) and utilize large-gamut, strong-adhesion Fuji Sericol inks. With this installation, Fresh Color now is one of the most capable high-impact large-format printers in the U.S.

December 11, 2013

Fresh Color installs Kodak SX3900 NexPress

Fastest-ever NexPress has 5th-color Light Black, gamut-expending Kodak Blue and Gold Metallic printing options.

It was an easy decision to buy our 5th-ever Kodak NexPress because Kodak continues to enhance what we consider the industry's best digital color press. The 3900 prints 7,800 pages per hour and has a new Long-Sheet Feeder enabling us to print sheets as large as 14" X 36" with 13.4" X 35.5" print area.

January 12, 2013

Fresh Color installs Oce' Arizona 550XT large-format UV printer

2nd Arizona nearly triples our large-format printing capacity, also has opaque white, and produces the same high-impact large-format display graphics as our Arizona 360XT!

We spent 2012 immersed in learning how to get the most out of our equipment and researching large-format substrates while doing a broad range of projects for many of our clients. We've grown rapidly and were nearing the point of having trouble getting projects done as fast as we like. So it was an easy decision to buy another Arizona UV printer. The 550 has the same huge vacuum bed, roll-to-roll, and white capabilities as the 360, so now we can produce the same superb quality nearly 3 times faster!

January 5, 2012

Fresh Color goes LARGE, enters the large-format display graphics market

Oce' Arizona 360XT with opaque white and Zund G3 2500XL router/cutter combine to put Fresh Color in the high-quality large-format graphics business.

Over the years, clients have asked if we can do large-format printing because they want Fresh Color's quality, fast turn times, and anticipatory service for their display, event, and POS graphics needs. We used to refer them to other local resources, but clients kept telling us that we should get into the large-format because there just ins't a Fresh Color in the space.

We started to consider large-format in 2011, learning about the market and evaluating equipment. Now we've installed our first large-format equipment, an Oce' Arizona 360XT UV printer and a Zund G3 cutter/router. This is superb equipment capable of world-best print quality, so we're off to a great start in terms of meeting and usually exceeding client expectations!

December 16, 2010

Fresh Color installs NexPress SE3000

Able to print 1 1/2 times as fast as the original nexpress!

The NexPress SE3000 prints up to 23,000 sheets per hour. Supports sheet sizes up to 25.5” x 13.4”.

April 5, 2010

Fresh Color installs PSI 3640 Full Color Digital Envelope Printer
We’ve found the perfect solution to meet clients’ needs for fast, affordable, color envelopes!

The PSI 3640 prints 2,400 envelopes per hour, in any size from
3” X 5” to 12” X 18”.

Envelopes print faster—and for less money—than lithographic printing.
Addresses envelopes as they print, so invitations and announcements are ready to mail the moment envelopes are printed.
Prints envelopes on the face, the flap—or both!
We stock Cougar and Superfine envelopes in a range of sizes:
4 baronial, A2, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10, 6 X 9, 9 X 12, and 10 X 13.

February 17, 2010

Fresh Color became FSC-certified by the Bureau Veritas today

In addition, we plan to become “tri-certified” in next few months, which means we’ll be FSI and PEFC certified.

As always, we operate sustainably as possible—across the board—and use only FSC- and PEFC-certified papers made in Europe and North America (where mills meet higher environmental standards than in other parts of the world).

January, 2009

Fresh Color installs Horizon StitchLiner 5500 saddle-stitcher
World-best digital printing stitcher produces lay-flat booklets up to 200 page

Fresh Color greatly enhanced its finishing department by adding a StitchLiner 5500 this month. Digital printers struggle to make high-page-count booklets that lay flat as client desire because most digital printers’ saddle-stitchers can’t plow-fold (and usually are designed for copy shop and in-plant use). StitchLiner is made for demanding commercial printing applications, which is the core of Fresh Color’s business mix:

Booklets up to 200 pages (50# uncoated text)
In-line scoring and plow-folding for booklets that really lay flat (binding sides are not puffy and rounded, common on digitally-printed saddle-stitched booklets)
Verifiable set integrity for personalized booklets that must be right
Stitches booklets faster than 4 NexPresses can simultaneously print sheets
Few digital commercial printers offer this level of stitched-booklet quality

December, 2008

Fresh Color installs Duplo Ultra 205A Digital UV Coating Capability
Company now provides fast, cost-effective protection of digitally-printed collateral and direct mail

Fresh Color has added a fully-automated, made-for-digital Duplo Ultra 205A flood UV coater, which offers important client benefits:

UV coating greatly increases the durability of digitally-printed postcards and self-mailers, always a concern for materials going through the USPS system.
UV coating enhances color and gloss to create high-impact marketing collateral, and is a fast, cost-effective alternative to lamination.
UV-coated materials can be used for wipe-off training and POS materials.
Stitches booklets faster than 4 NexPresses can simultaneously print sheets
Duplo’s Ultra 205A vaies to amount of coating applied allowing us to control glossiness

March, 2008

Fresh Color Installs 3rd Kodak NexPress
Capacity increases to 12,600 full-color pages per hour

Fresh Color added another Kodak NexPress to manage continuing growth and maintain our position as the Twin Cities’ leading fast-turn digital color commercial printer.

Demand for high-quality, short-run color marketing collateral is increasing at 12-15% annually, and NexPress remains the only digital color device able to meet discerning clients’ needs for affordable, high-impact, fast-turn color printing.

Fresh Color’s core business is providing fast-turn, short-run color printing done right, and an additional NexPress keeps us fast and flexible as we grow. With three NexPresses running two shifts, we’re one of the largest-capacity commercial digital printers in the U.S. and very appealing to clients whose large personalized direct marketing projects must printed and mailed in a hurry.

Our two newest NexPresses have 5th-color units used to apply spot or flood ClearCoat (looks and feels like satin aqueous coating) or for expanded-gamut printing (using Kodak’s red, green, or blue 5th colors to enhance 4-color process). Kodak’s continuing software and press upgrades, strong service support, and an operating model that keeps printers in control of their print quality – unlike other companies’ click-charge operating models – made NexPress an easy choice.

Important benefits of the 2100 Plus model include:

printing even heavier papers (up to 16 pt. Carolina C2S)
Larger 13.4 X 20 print area (up from 13.4 X 18.1)

Launched in January 2003 with a single NexPress, Fresh Color is a premier U.S. digital color printer, with a complete in-house bindery/finishing department and full-range personalization, mailing, and fulfillment services, adding up to start-to-finish project control, lower costs, and fastest possible turn times and delivery dates.

To learn how NexPress meets your needs, contact Brian Johnson (bjohnson@freshcolorpress.com) or visit http://graphics.kodak.com