Imagination back, with first AccurioPress C14000

Imagination Graphics is back up and running, three months after the summer floods ravaged the premises, with the country's first Konica Minolta AccurioPress C14000 taking centre stage at the Marrickville business.

Owner Emmanuel Buhagiar said, “The new C14000 is a beast, we upgraded to get it, and I'm glad we did. Its productivity is high, and so is its flexibility, for instance it can print duplex on one metre length stock. We have had it for a week and it has been terrific.

“When I looked at the C14000 and the figures I thought I would seize the opportunity to upgrade, I had to add in some funds, and I'm glad I did.”

ANZ general manager Sue Threlfo describes the new C14000 as “completely groundbreaking”. It prints in CMYK at up to 140ppm A4, or 80ppm A3, with a resolution that the company says is equivalent to 3600 x 2400dpi. It has enhanced media capability up to 450gsm, and a printing speed 40 per cent faster than the firm’s existing toner devices.

The new C14000 detects paper types automatically. It has inline trimming, slitting and creasing for full-bleed output, with simplex banner printing up to 129.5cm and duplex banner printing up to 90cm. The TU-510 Versatile Trimmer Unit also means the press can finish business cards inline.

Imagination Graphics will also be welcoming a new B2 sheetfed inkjet Konica Minolta AccurioPress KM-1 at the beginning of spring, and has also been able to install like for like replacement presses for all those that were damaged.

Buhagiar says the company is now fully back up and running, in the same Marrickville premises, but with added flood defences. He said, “The council has also told us all they have been working on the drains, so we do not expect any further issues.”

In the period after the devastating bushfires and before the coronavirus, the country was going through the minor matter of the floods, which succeeded in turning many businesses in Sydney's inner west suburb Marrickville into swimming pools, including Imagination Graphics.

The knee-deep waters, which poured in on a Sunday evening six weeks ago, wrecked a host of equipment at the award-winning printer, including the new B2 AccurioPress KM-1, affectionally dubbed Kimmie by Budgie and his staff, which was the first in NSW.

Buhagiar took a call from one of his staffers at 5am on the Monday morning telling him to get in quick, but by then it was too late, floodwater was 2' (60cm) deep through the whole factory.

Buhagiar said, "Everything had been wiped out including the KM-1. Monday was one of the saddest days of my life. To walk in and see everything underwater was devastating."

Imagination kept trading while it had no kit thanks to local printers, and has been keeping its head above water during the Covid crisis with rotating shifts, holidays, and says Buhagiar, “We have clients who have kept on printing, which has been great. We can now see work picking up.”