About Ashford Colour Press
Ashford Colour Press has an enviable reputation in the printing sector worldwide, being one of the first companies in the UK to adopt a fully digital zero-inventory print-on-demand service and are continuously investing in cutting-edge technology to enhance their productivity.
They are specialists in all types of litho, digital and inkjet printing and deliver fast and extremely high-quality service to clients requiring books, magazines, journals and even promotional items.
With one of the only Tecnau Libra 800 dual-feed binding solutions in the country, the Gosport-based business has recently streamlined its workflows to greatly increase output and efficiency.
The Challenges
Their commitment to driving the business forward by ensuring they offer the latest digital printing technology has led to phenomenal growth in digital output, and as such, IT requirements at Ashford Colour Press have changed drastically over the years.
The use of new software, hardware and a recent expansion into new premises, meant the entire infrastructure and network needed to be reviewed with security being a priority. With their on-site IT infrastructure being critical to business operations, works needed to be planned to the minute detail.
All of this required a higher level of IT expertise than was available in-house.
The Solutions
Having worked with Ashford Colour Press for over a decade, Zinq IT was not only well-educated on their set-up, but they had also designed, installed and managed their existing IT infrastructure and knew what needed to be done to facilitate their growth.
We assessed the size of the premises and worked closely with their IT Manager to understand their requirements including new software and hardware integrations. From this, we were able to come up with a carefully devised plan for a complete re-architecture of the network that would cause minimum disruption to the printing environment.
Over a period of months, we configured and installed multiple switches and communications cabinets connected by fibre and copper cabling. We also connected their 20+ networks and segregated systems back to a purpose-built server room and with help from third-party vendors, upgraded or refreshed the majority of their networking hardware.
The downtime was just 48 hours, which we had catered for in their production schedule during the planning and design phase.
The Impact
Forward planning and collaborative working meant we were able to design a network that facilitated new printing processes without impacting service delivery.
An enterprise-grade solution with redundancy built into the network has significantly reduced single points of failure and improved security. A building-wide CCTV system has also recently been installed, utilising a network that was configured and then reserved as part of the wider infrastructure changes.
The result is increased productivity, greatly reduced network latency and non-disruptive maintenance. Our continued on-site visits, along with our remote monitoring, have helped to minimise support calls for both Zinq IT and the internal IT team at Ashford Colour Press.
Client Quote
“The team at Zinq IT are an extension of our team here and provide a real belt and braces service every time. Not only do they deliver on time and under budget, they never give you the impression they are on the clock or uncontactable. ”
“Since joining Ashford Colour Press, first as IT Manager and now as IT Director, Zinq IT has been instrumental in helping us to improve our systems, networks, and processes. They assisted with onboarding me in the role initially and provide invaluable third-line senior engineering support and high-level expertise which goes beyond my skill level on bespoke projects.”
“I couldn’t do my job as well without them and they are always our first point of call for any IT requirements, big or small.”
