CONTACT Originators has won a Stationers’ Innovation Excellence Award for its automated digital shim printing technology, PrintHQ.
The solution triumphed in the Business Processes category.
The awards are presented by the Stationers’ Company, an organisation with over 600 years of history, and seek to praise the best innovations from the world of printing, printing supplies, publishing, packaging, office products, promotion and communication.
Bringing digital automation to a typically manual and time-consuming process for the first time, Contact Originators explained that PrintHQ uses inkjet technology, developed in partnership with AV Flexologic, to deliver ‘precise’ print job information directly onto the plate shim during mounting.
This data can be accessed through a printed QR code that collates the relevant job recipe and information, and links to online graphic support. The result is said to be a ‘more accurate and efficient’ plate mounting process, supported by a free flow of information from prepress to print.
The judging panel said PrintHQ showed an impressive practical approach, with clear benefits in time, cost and energy savings for customers.
This marks the second time Contact Originators has received top honours at the awards ceremony. In 2019, the company was recognised for its Optimus plate technology, which delivers improved ink laydown and ink reduction in the corrugated print process. This year’s success follows achievements at the 2023 FIAUK Print Awards, where Contact Originators secured the Reprographic Company and Supplier of the Year awards for a fourth consecutive year.
Steve Mulcahy, CEO at Contact Originators, said, “The Stationers’ Award is one of the most prestigious award programmes of its kind, and recognition from the judging panel underscores the transformative potential of both our technology and our vision. While digital advancements are revolutionising the industry, we identified a real bottleneck in manual shim mounting, checking, and tracking. This is precisely what we set out to change, and with PrintHQ, we have done just that.”
