Prepress

Minneapolis Printer Relies on Heidelberg Technology for Prepress Success

Friday 01. August 2008 - Heidelberg’s Prinect workflow has driven prepress operations at Shapco Printing, a full-service commercial shop in Minneapolis, for years.

When it came time to install a new platesetter, Heidelberg’s reputation for quality plus guaranteed compatibility with Prinect workflow led the shop to install a new Suprasetter 105 thermal platesetter from Heidelberg. “There is so much positive feedback in the marketplace about the reliability and quality of Heidelberg’s platesetters,” said Joel Shapiro, who co-founded Shapco Printing with his two brothers in 1976. “We already had the Prinect prepress system, and the concept of full integration was very attractive.” In addition to general commercial work, Shapco Printing, which has grown over the last three decades to 125 employees and five 40-inch presses, handles point-of-sale printing for retailers, menus for national restaurants, annual reports and art books. “We’re known as a high-end prepress shop,” Shapiro said. “We do some very sophisticated Photoshop work.” A high-end shop needs the best in prepress workflow, and Prinect from Heidelberg fits the bill. “I really like the overall reliability, features and screening capabilities. Prinect gets an A-plus across the board. The PDF workflow is really sensational; the speed at which everything rips and the ease with which it works with various programs such as InDesign, PageMaker and QuarkXPress is really terrific.” Shapco’s new Suprasetter, which includes an internal punching system, is also working out well. “Internal punch on the Suprasetter was a good step forward,” Shapiro said. “We are reducing the number of pulls needed to get in register, and that’s something we couldn’t achieve with the external punch.” In addition to the Suprasetter, the shop runs a 5-color Printmaster GTO press and three Stahlfolders from Heidelberg.