Offset Printing

American Greetings Upgrades Custom Printing and Thermography Capability with New Heidelberg Press

Friday 02. May 2008 - Greeting-card giant American Greetings recently added a 1-color Speedmaster SM 52 from Heidelberg to its plant in Osceola, Ark. and saw productivity more than double over its old press.

“The primary reason we went with Heidelberg was because of how robust the equipment is,” said Production Engineer Trung Nguyen. “That press really is a heavy duty machine. None of the other small-format printing equipment on the market comes close.” American Greetings uses the unusual 1-color configuration to add text to pre-printed cards; the company also uses its new SM 52 to print adhesive onto cards, which then go through the thermography process. “The new Heidelberg press is working really well,” Nguyen said. “Everyone in the department is happy with it, including the operator — the equipment is very operator friendly.” To ensure continued top performance from its new press, American Greetings uses Heidelberg Perfect Dot blankets and wash-up solution. The company also receives free maintenance and support for three years through Heidelberg’s systemservice 36plus. “The new SM 52 runs at twice the speed of our old press,” Nguyen said.