Offset Printing

Modern Litho Orders Up Higher Quality With Top-of-the-Line Speedmaster XL 105 From Heidelberg – Plus A Few Bells And Whistles

Monday 10. March 2008 - Modern Litho Print Co., Jefferson City, Mo., is a general commercial printer with a specialty niche in publication and directory work.

Late last year, the company installed a 5-color Speedmaster XL 105 press with aqueous coater to handle an increased workload and add additional capacity for future growth. Heidelberg equipped the new press with Image Control, Instant Gate, DryStar Advanced and Prepress Interface, and the installation boasts the first CAN (Controller Area Network) operated CutStar peripheral in North America. “Fortunately, our business has grown sufficiently to keep the new press running around the clock, six days a week,” says Assistant Plant Superintendent Jim Tomblinson. “We run all our quality work — heavy coverages, difficult substrates, anything with quality issues — on that press. The XL 105 has raised the standard of quality in our shop significantly. It also produces more work faster, thanks to quicker makereadies and lower waste. The crews who work on this press are running three shifts instead of two, so it has opened up plenty of production capacity. All of our pressmen love to run it.” Among the features Tomblinson likes best about the XL 105 are the built-in color control and pre-inking capability. “Color bars and densitometers are great and have their place, but the ability to pre-ink quickly and accurately without manual adjustment is critical. We run 200-line screens day in and day out on coated or uncoated stock, and with heavy or light ink coverage. The XL 105 eats it up. We definitely enjoy printing with this press.” The new XL 105 joins a semi-automated, 6-color Speedmaster 102 and a pair of 4-color 40″ Speedmaster perfectors for 1/1 and 2/2 perfecting jobs. In the bindery, a fully automated POLAR 137 XT cutter and Stahlfolder RFH-82 folder round out Modern Litho’s Heidelberg lineup. A Heidelberg customer for at least 25 years, Modern Litho sticks with what works, and its relationship with Heidelberg does exactly that. “We want a partner that will respond and react quickly when there is a need,” Tomblinson says, “That’s why we partner with Heidelberg.”