The tandem solution from Konica Minolta strengthens our position as internal service provider

Concordia Versicherung Hanover logo

The tandem solution from Konica Minolta strengthens our position as internal service provider

The tandem solution from Konica Minolta strengthens our position as internal service provider

From its internal printing facility, the Concordia Versicherung in Hanover, Germany, supplies sales collateral printed in full colour to both its internal and external sales force all over Germany. Thanks to a highly individual concept devised by Konica Minolta, the in-house print room can now offer its print services more flexibly and pursue its plans to extend the portfolio in the future.


With some 1,250 employees and a recent group turnover of 847 million Euros, the “Concordia Versicherungs-Gesellschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit” (mutual insurance society) ranks among the mid-sized insurers in the field of accident and indemnity insurance in Germany.

So far, the insurance company’s print room was adequately equipped, operating one monochrome and one full-colour digital printing press. For the production of flyers and brochures, Frank Reinecke, Team Head Logistics, stresses that it is above all the quality that counts: “We get our orders from different parties within our organisation, and supply both our internal as well as external sales teams right across Germany. What’s most important for us is that the colours are just right and correspond precisely to our CI. Only this will ensure that our customers receive sophisticated and professional printed information.” 


When the digital print solution from another supplier had reached the end of its regular contract, looking into replacing it with a more modern approach seemed the logical thing to do: “Concerning the new solution, we were completely open and happy to consider new concepts; so we did some in-depth research and compared several suppliers” Frank Reinecke recalls. Initially however, this comparison was based entirely on replacing the existing equipment, namely one black & white plus one full colour production system.


Convinced by an extraordinary proposal

Konica Minolta’s initial concept was based on two digital printing presses, replicating the previous installation. “However, after extensive further talks and discussions, the team from Konica Minolta eventually suggested an alternative solution that we found entirely convincing. They proposed installing two AccurioPress C2070 full colour systems plus a monochrome press,” says Head of Logistics Reinecke.

Combining both colour presses into a tandem installation plus attaching a hot-melt glue binder to one and a booklet maker to the other colour system makes print production a lot more efficient and flexible. A bizhub PRESS 1250eP completes the solution from Konica Minolta. As part of the new printing infrastructure, print control and print job management also had to be newly designed.

This is now covered by Konica Minolta’s print management solution AccurioPro Flux Ultimate, which allows the in-house printing facility to pursue its strategy of catering to all corporate divisions by expanding its range of print products. Within the scope of redesigning the printing infrastructure, another server previously used for the printing of host files was upgraded by Konica Minolta with a new version, and at the same time was updated and virtualised.


Printing of host files is required whenever the indemnity division again needs prints of digitally archived files. These days, the virtualised server receives these print jobs from the insurer’s data centre as an IPDS data stream, which is automatically transformed into printable PostScript files and then printed in the in-house print room. With the new process, also the previously used local server in the print room became obsolete. And Frank Reinecke’s team is relieved of IT tasks that weren’t part of the internal printing facilities’ scope of work in the first place.


The right platform at the right time

In view of the present monthly output of some 50,000 printed pages in colour plus around 80,000 monochrome pages, the internal print room of the Concordia insurance company is well positioned in every conceivable way. Prior to the new installation, printed stacks of paper still had to be inserted by hand into an offline binder. These days, no matter whether stapling or gluing is required, both types of finishing can be activated instantly and entirely automatically.

Rather than operating a single colour press, two systems now run in combination: This approach also focuses on keeping the colour quality constant, which in the two Konica Minolta AccurioPress C2070 is achieved via automatic and extremely reliable colour density measurement on the respective paper. Another advantage is the automatic processing of host data. “Thanks to that, we can now take on print jobs at any time that are presently still produced in the central data center. In line with giving up the servers to the data center, we can each use our competencies much more efficiently,” Frank Reinecke explains the advantages resulting from the streamlined internal processes. 


In case of possible future restructuring, the internal printing facility can react quickly and also take on extremely high-volume print jobs. The AccurioPro Flux software allows managing all print jobs centrally and comfortably. The solution is scalable and will be used to generate additional benefits (added value) in the future. “We plan to create a web shop via which our agencies can order their advertising collateral directly from us. Likewise, this portal will allow us to approach additional divisions within our group and win them as future purchasers,” Frank Reinecke sums up the new setup.


Challenge

High print quality and print production with more flexibility


Solution

Combination of two AccurioPress C2070 plus one bizhub PRESS 1250eP


Advantages

Enhanced production speed, better finishing flexibility and option to expand the services offered



Frank Reinecke
quotation marks

"This tandem installation offers us many advantages, above all system stability as well as suitable finishing for each and every print job."

Frank Reinecke

Team leader logistics Concordia Versicherung