Solopress Installs UK's First Ricoh Pro VC80000, Boosting Custom Print Capacity 80%

Solopress began installing the UK's first Ricoh Pro VC80000 continuous-feed inkjet press at its Southend-on-Sea production site at the end of February 2026, a more than £2 million investment the company says will increase its digital print capacity by around 80%.

The roll-fed press runs inline with Hunkeler unwinding and finishing equipment and a Horizon Mark V stitching line, creating a continuous workflow that produces stapled brochures without offline handoffs between machines. The Ricoh Pro VC80000 operates at speeds of up to 150 metres per minute with resolutions of up to 1200 x 1200 dpi and handles both coated and uncoated stocks.

Brochure production is the primary application. More than half of Solopress' brochure output is planned to run on the new line, and Jack Clifford, Operations Director at Solopress, said the company tracked sustained demand before committing to the capital outlay.

"We have seen strong and consistent growth in brochure printing, so increasing capacity in this area was a priority," Clifford said. "The Ricoh Pro VC80000 allows us to produce longer digital runs much more efficiently while maintaining the quality our customers expect."

The economics proved equally compelling. The company calculated the press could reduce cost per page by around 20% on high-volume work. "The press runs at roughly twice the speed of our next most efficient digital machine and the inline finishing will significantly increase throughput on stapled brochures," Clifford said. "When we analysed the figures, we calculated it could reduce our cost per page by around 20%."

The installation expands existing production capacity rather than replacing it. As part of the transition, two Horizon StitchLiner 5500 systems previously used for brochure finishing were sold. Several Solopress production team members completed specialist training at Ricoh's UK headquarters in Telford ahead of the press coming online.

The implications for personalized print extend well beyond standard brochure runs. Continuous-feed inkjet presses with inline automation and stitching change the unit economics of variable-data printing, making longer runs of customized collateral, including personalized catalogs, direct-mail holiday inserts, and monogrammed printed goods, more viable at lower cost. For brands commissioning custom print for gifting campaigns or seasonal mailers, the reduction in per-page cost and turnaround friction at high volumes is a meaningful shift.

PrintWeek and PrintMonthly both framed the Solopress installation as a UK industry milestone for digital personalization capability, emphasizing the throughput gains as an indicator of where high-speed domestic inkjet production is heading. Industry coverage appeared across March 23 to 30, 2026, with the company's own announcement released on March 30.