Northeastern Plastics Installs DP8700 XL Digital Press

Northeastern Plastics International, a prominent short-run printer of plastic cards in Ohio, has recently installed a MGI Meteor DP8700XL digital press. The Meteor DP8700XL, installed earlier this year, replaces a predecessor to the 8700XL, the Meteor DP30, purchased by Northeastern Plastics in 2005. The Meteor DP8700XL joins a host of other MGI equipment, including a PressCard Pro Hot Platen Lamination Unit and two (2) PunchCard Pro CR-80 Credit Card Format Die Cutters. Graphco, headquartered in Solon, Ohio,

Located in Canton, Ohio, Northeastern Plastics produces a multitude of plastic cards and sells through its distributor network. Owner and President Allen Richards added his first MGI digital press, a Meteor DP30, in 2006. The Meteor DP30 allowed Richards to digitally print on plastic with quicker turnaround times and keep more projects in-house. The company’s current product offering includes heavyweight (CR-80) credit cards, gift cards, lightweight cards, calendar and tip-chart cards, key tags, luggage and bag tags, along with a plethora of barcoding and encoding services.

As business continued to grow, Northeastern Plastics needed to raise production capacity in order to meet customer demand. The addition of the Meteor DP8700XL was, for Richards, “a no brainer. The speed, color and quality advancements made since the DP30 came out all made the DP8700XL a natural upgrade for us.” The Meteor DP8700XL prints up to 4,260 A4/letter pages per hour and can print up to 3,600 dpi or 270 lpi.

Northeastern Plastics now has the capacity to print and finish up to 3,000,000 CR-80 credit cards annually – typical run lengths range from 100 up to 10,000 cards per job.  However, with the addition of the Meteor DP8700XL says Allen Richards, “our turnaround times have decreased dramatically, and we are able to offer our customers a 48-hour rush service.”

“The Meteor DP8700XL has been a great addition to our business and has afforded us the opportunity to provide better quality, increased capacity and shorter turnaround times to our customers. We are keeping more work in-house than ever before.  It was well worth the investment,” said Richards. “We also really appreciate the great service support we get from Graphco .”