Offset Printing
City Print to complete post flood re-equipment in August
Friday 16. July 2010 - City Print in Cork will take delivery of a Speedmaster CD 102-5+L press in August, nine months after a major flood that left the plant under about five feet of water.
“A major incident like this brings out the best or worst in people and we really saw Heidelberg shine,” says Michael Courtney, managing director of City Print. “We desperately needed a replacement for our SM 52-4 and although they were quoting us eight to ten weeks they managed to divert a press within two weeks. It was a five-colour with coater but Heidelberg didnt take advantage of our situation and negotiated a fair price and put us back in business.”
The older SM 52 had been a nine year old machine but the water-damaged CD 102 -5+L had only been two years old. When it was bought City Print put all the main press manufacturers in the frame and came down in favour of Heidelberg mainly because it was known technology.
“This time there was no way any other supplier was going to get a look in because the CD 102 was so good. It just ran and ran. The makereadies were quick and the productivity fantastic and it could run 100 or 100,000 posters and theyd be off in a flash,” says Mr Courtney. “We could have bought a cheaper press but we genuinely wanted the quality and predictability of this technology.”
The delay in fully re-equipping – it is also taking a Polar 115XT with Transomat unloading – was down to the insurance settlement and price negotiation.
City Prints web site sums up its beliefs as “pride in our workmanship, the importance of our customers, and also our suppliers, with whom we value our relationships”. The 68 year old company survived because the partners worked speedily and efficiently together and it will thrive as it is re-equipped and ready to respond to the varied need of its broad customer base.