Regal Press Adds New Services as Digital Print Becomes 50 Percent of its Production Output

Operating at the high end of the corporate market, Regal Press, of Norwood, MA, has made major changes to its strategy several times during its 45-year history to adapt to changing markets and technologies. The bursting of the dot-com bubble made Regal Press realize the need to diversify and expand its customer base. Around that time, Regal Press began to discover digital printing.

“When we saw the variable data capabilities of the first HP (Booth 1832) Indigo press it was something we had not seen before,” explains William N. Duffey, president. “I had experienced personalized print at a hotel in Amsterdam; everything had my name on it from napkins, stationery to playing cards and even the drinks-stirrers, and it had impact. I knew people would like it and demand it in higher-end hotels and services.

“With our Fortune 200 client base and a strong need for differentiation, we believed that specializing in personalized products was just what the doctor ordered.”

With the launch of the HP Indigo 3050, Regal Press felt that the throughput was at a level where it could support its customers’ requirements. It soon moved to the HP Indigo 5500, and then to HP Indigo 7000, 7600 and 7800 Digital Presses.

“Digital just skyrocketed,” Duffey explains. “In 2014, we installed the HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press, which we have found delivers a dot characteristic that matches our 40-inch offset equipment and presses. It’s the right equipment for our applications and for variable data copy; it is the best.”

Regal Press also made major investments in job management and web-to-print software as part of its digital transformation.

“We have the HP SmartStream Production Pro running parallel with our digital front end,” explains Mike Seidman, vice president operations, The Regal Press Inc. “It’s tremendous software and allows us to take new and existing work and customize it any way we need to: color, text enhancements, and variable data. It’s given us the ability to change pieces very quickly and make distinctive products for our customers.”

“With our digital capabilities, we’re able to provide unique new solutions to our customers,” Duffey says. “We’re giving them variable data on demand in multiple markets, and we’re able to transport files not just for printing in the US, but also to strategic partners in Canada and the UK.”

Regal Press operates one of the largest fleets of HP Indigo presses on the U.S. East Coast. Printing for 150,000 insurance agents and brokers from 20 companies; for multiple major banking groups, and for hospitality corporations handling print products for over 800,000 hotel rooms, the scale of Regal Press’ work and supporting logistics is difficult to imagine.

“Our products today do more than make our customers look good; they help them to make money,” says Duffey. “For example, fluctuations in food prices can be reflected on menus quickly. Not only on menus, but more personally on hotel room door hangers. We’re helping our customers enhance their guests’ experiences and add value at every level.

“We’re using our HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press for runs of 50,000,100,000 and even half a million pieces, and we think the digital future is just starting,” he says. “We’re hoping to move into packaging and have already started to produce boutique packaging for high-end box companies and for retail use.

“What we’d like to be is the front-runner in everything personalized,” Duffey concludes. “Digital printing makes that possible, and it is fast becoming a customer expectation: the world is becoming personalized.”