News

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 20” x 13.5”.

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

August, 2008

Fresh Color adds Pair of Kodak Digimaster 9110 Digital Presses
Now able to print 13,000+ black-only pages per hour

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

August, 2007

Fresh Color Expands Facility
Space increased to 12,000 square feet

Fresh Color finished its build-out of additional space this month, going from 6,300 to 12,000 square feet to accommodate provides room for newly-installed finishing equipment, accommodates a 3rd NexPress, and enables us to easily produce large finishing and mailing projects that are a big part of our recent growth.

January, 2007

Lori Snyder Joins Fresh Color
Experienced project manager brings personalization, database, and mailing experience and technical knowledge to Fresh Color.

December, 2006

Fresh Color Installs First-in-the-U.S. Standard FKT folder

Made-for-digital-printing folder is precise and extremely fast, so there’s no tradeoff between turn time and quality. Folder also is equipped with an inline fugitive gluing system that elegantly and effectively closes self-mailers, eliminating the need for cheap-looking wafer seals.

November, 2006

Fresh Color Buys iWay Prime Web-to-Print Software to Meet Marketers’ Needs
Online Marketing Document Customization/Proofing/Ordering of Streamlined Web and Mail-to-Print

Further broadening its marketing-focused front-end capabilities, Fresh Color Press recently acquired industry-standard Press-sense iWay Prime software—a simple-but-powerful Web-based marketing document customization and ordering system.

“We’ve planned to add web-to-print software to complement our XMPie cross-media capabilities,” said Fresh Color president Brian Johnson. “iWay Prime increases return on marketing assets by making print marketing materials accessible and adaptable – always within brand standards – 24/7. For example, sales reps located anywhere can customize and order their collateral online, which saves time and money when the home office needn’t do it, fewer printed mistakes occur, orders are for only the needed quantity, and shipping expense is reduced because materials are usually shipped Ground rather than 2-Day or Overnight.”

Further, “Marketers want collateral tailored by market segment and customer profile, but don’t have the time, money, and personnel to do things the old way. We chose iWay Prime because it’s simple to use, with intuitive creation and proofing processes which are perfect for inexperienced users.

iWay Prime has many features that marketers and operations managers need:

Accessible only to authorized users (there can be many)
Orders can be made subject to administrator approval before printing
Multi-variable search function makes accounting-related information easy to access and share as Excel reports
Users’ portal pages can be created with the same look and feel as client web sites
Automatic email updates of project and shipping status.
Accepts multiple database formats
Works with a broad range of native documents
Interfaces with Fresh Color’s ePace Print Management System software for seamless job ticketing, tracking, and user-account management.

Fresh Color Press has full-scope direct marketing capabilities, including UV coating, in-line fugitive gluing, database expertise, mailing services, and XMPie cross-media marketing software.

To learn more about iWay Prime and web-to-print workflow, contact Brian Johnson (bjohnson@freshcolorpress.com), navigate to the Web-to-Print page, or visit www.press-sense.com.

September, 2005

Fresh Color Buys Industry-Best XMPie Personalization Software at PRINT ‘05
XMPie Personalization software is added for Data-Driven Cross-Media Marketing Campaigns

“We’re committed to meeting sophisticated direct marketers’ needs,” says Fresh Color president Brian Johnson, “and we know that agencies and corporate marketers need to use valuable customer data to increase marketing ROI. Our personalized direct marketing business is growing, so it was time to add personalized email and RURL (response URLs which direct recipients to personalized web landing pages) capabilities that integrate with our personalized print capabilities.”

Regarding the XMPie choice, “We know they’ll remain the software leader for robust creative campaigns involving complex business logic. Yet XMPie is simple and intuitive, minimizing the learning curve for clients new to personalized direct marketing. We were inclined to buy, and the decision became a no-brainer as soon as XMPie demonstrated amazingly creative image personalization made possible with their just-launched uImage plug-in. We’re so excited about XMPie that we bought the full-blown server-based product, enabling us to quickly process and print huge campaigns involving complex personalization rules and tens of thousands of records.”

To learn more about XMPie and how cross-media personalization fits into your marketing mix, contact Brian Johnson (bjohnson@freshcolorpress.com), navigate to the Personalized Marketing page, or visit www.xmpie.com.