With a turnover of £32 million forecast this year and employing 270 people, Rotherham-based Bluetree Group is a major player in the UK web-to-print market. In mid-2016 an investment in the Jet Press 720S revolutionised its business card output, enabling it to boost production, increase flexibility and slash turnaround times, all while maintaining the very high standards of quality that have helped to build its reputation.

“Our online customers expect quality, they expect a very high level of customer service and they expect fast delivery,” says Bluetree Group Joint Managing Director, Adam Carnell. “We pride ourselves on delivering on all of these demands and our investment in the Jet Press 720S is helping us to improve our levels of service still further.

“The main reason behind the investment decision was our desire to set up a dedicated business card production cell,” Carnell continues. “Quality is critically important to everything we do – and when it comes to business cards, it’s especially important as it’s all about making a strong, positive first impression to new contacts.

“We tested a range of digital presses and found that, in terms of quality, the Jet Press was far and away the absolute leader. It was the only digital press we had come across that gave us the confidence that we could continue to deliver business cards at the level of quality our customers had come to expect.”

The Jet Press 720S now forms the backbone of Bluetree Group’s new business card production unit, alongside carefully selected finishing kit. As well as improving the speed with which the company can deliver business cards to customers, it offers the opportunity for value-add personalised finishes, including UV spot colours, embossing and rounded corners.”

“The Jet Press has given us the ability to offer ‘next day’ business cards,” Carnell adds. “Customers can order before 5pm and receive their cards the following day. A turnaround that fast is only possible thanks to the Jet Press.

“Since installation we’ve had very high levels of up-time – far in excess of any of our other digital platforms – and that means excellent levels of productivity. If required, we can print up to 1.5 million individual business cards in a single day, all on the Jet Press.

“Colour consistency, from first sheet to last sheet has also been hugely impressive – it’s a GMG certified proofing device, which gives you an idea of just how impressive the colour consistency is. Customer feedback on the quality has been excellent. In fact, we even ran a ‘spot the difference’ marketing campaign soon after installing the press, enclosing business cards printed both on the Jet Press and on our existing litho technology. Three quarters of respondents said they thought the quality of the card printed on the Jet Press was superior.

“We’re seeing an ever-developing trend among our customers to demand faster and faster turnaround times. The Jet Press is invaluable in this respect, helping us to excel even more in this key area. In fact, we’re now so good on turnaround times that we’ve taken a giant leap as a business and started to target new customers on the east coast of the US. We can print here in the UK and deliver to the customer two days after their order is placed, beating local competitors both on price and on turnaround times.”

Says Chris Broadhurst, General Manager, Fujifilm Graphic Systems UK: “UK Jet Press owners, whether general commercial printers or large-scale web-to-print businesses like Bluetree Group, are proving the credentials of the Jet Press 720S in the marketplace. As they push the machine to its limits, they learn what it’s capable of – and even teach us a thing or two in the process. When we launched it in 2014, I’m not sure that any of us here at Fujifilm imagined a Jet Press 720S being used to print business cards exclusively and round the clock, but Bluetree Group has identified an opportunity and recognised the ability of the Jet Press to deliver. We congratulate them on their US venture and look forward to continuing to support them as they continue to grow as a business.”