The MPX Group Capitalizes on the Benefits of Canon varioPRINT iX Sheetfed Inkjet
Commercial printers increasingly find that switching to inkjet presses helps boost uptime, broaden capabilities, and improve efficiency for a wide range of in-demand printing jobs. See why The MPX Group’s president calls his company’s investment in the Canon varioPRINT iX3200 sheetfed inkjet press “the best equipment purchase” of his career.
How The MPX Group Capitalized on Canon Inkjet Technology
In the competitive commercial printing industry, organizations must continuously seek advanced technological solutions to help meet diverse client demands. The MPX Group, a commercial printer based in Golden Valley, Minnesota, perfectly exemplifies this drive for operational improvement. The organization serves a wide array of demanding verticals, providing critical printing services for the medical industry and the utility market, alongside producing marketing collateral for corporate clients. The company has also experienced significant business growth by expanding its offerings into kitting, promotional products, and large display graphics. To support this continuous growth and consistently deliver exceptional products, the print provider recognized the critical need to upgrade its digital production infrastructure and embrace the capabilities of modern inkjet printing.
Toner Limitations and Reactive Maintenance
Before transforming its digital print floor, The MPX Group relied heavily on traditional toner-based digital equipment. While a legacy device served the company well for years, operating in a strictly toner-based environment presented several inherent production bottlenecks that limited the facility's overall growth. One significant logistical challenge involved the company's approach to machine servicing. In the toner environment, the production team was essentially forced into a reactive maintenance model, typically running the digital presses until a mechanical failure occurred and the machine simply stopped.
Furthermore, the facility's traditional workflows often required highly labor-intensive, offline finishing processes. For instance, producing booklets required the staff to print the job, manually move the materials to a cutting station, process them through a standalone booklet maker, and then handle addressing for direct mailing as a completely separate step. Finally, relying on older technology sometimes made processing larger variable data postcard runs financially cost-prohibitive, restricting their ability to successfully scale this lucrative service.
A Seamless Transition to Advanced Inkjet
To help eliminate these inefficiencies and elevate its overall print quality, The MPX Group partnered with Canon U.S.A. The Minnesota-based facility replaced its legacy toner equipment by successfully installing a Canon varioPRINT iX-3200 sheetfed inkjet press, complete with an inline C.P. Bourg booklet maker.
The transition from legacy toner to advanced inkjet technology was remarkably smooth. While the physical installation took approximately three weeks, the operator training provided by the Canon team was highly efficient. The new system proved to be so user-friendly that the training could have effectively been completed in a single day, allowing the staff to get the press running quickly. Although the operators initially felt apprehensive about transitioning to an unfamiliar inkjet technology, that hesitation rapidly vanished once they witnessed the sheer quality of the materials coming off the new Canon machine. Furthermore, despite early concerns regarding paper compatibility, the facility discovered that every single paper stock they already utilized was fully approved for the Canon press.
Outstanding Quality, Predictive Uptime, and Workflow Efficiency
The implementation of the varioPRINT iX-3200 has delivered transformative benefits across The MPX Group's production floor. First, the facility experienced an incredible leap in print quality. The output from the Canon inkjet press easily matches the premium quality produced by the company's traditional five-color offset press. This visual parity allows the production team to seamlessly transition complex jobs from their offset equipment directly to the digital Canon press without sacrificing print integrity. Company leadership confidently noted that the Canon press delivers such exceptional results that they do not foresee needing any higher level of print quality in the future.
Operationally, the Canon technology has helped to revolutionize the facility's machine reliability. Because the inkjet press features fewer moving parts than legacy toner devices, it is far less susceptible to mechanical breakdowns. The MPX Group currently enjoys a machine uptime rate of over 95percent. During the initial rollout, the press ran flawlessly for six weeks before requiring its first service call, which was only necessitated by a building power outage. Furthermore, Canon's predictive maintenance capabilities helped to eliminate the stressful reactive service model. The system intelligently monitors component wear and proactively alerts the facility before a part fails, allowing the management team to carefully schedule preventive service and improve overarching production management.
Finally, the inline finishing capabilities have optimized daily labor utilization. By utilizing the inline C.P. Bourg booklet maker, a single operator can now print, cut, bind, and address mailing materials in one automated pass, helping to save the company two-thirds of the time previously required to produce booklets. Additionally, the cost-efficiency of the Canon inkjet platform has successfully made large-scale variable data postcard runs highly affordable and profitable.
Interested in learning how Canon production printing technology can help your business grow? Contact us today.