Prepress

Color Art streamlines production processes and saves the environment with Fujifilm prepress solutions

Wednesday 09. February 2011 - It is very clear that Angelo Zucchi, President at Color Art, has printing in his DNA. He fell in love with his job many years ago and has never regretted it. Having embarked on his career in the printing industry at a young age, he has seen all the major changes and challenges this industry has had to cope with over the last thirty years.

Located in the North of Italy, at Rodengo Saiano (Brescia), Color Art places enormous value on its skilled staff; with approximately 40 employees and a 3600 m2 plant, the company is considered quite a big printer in the Italian market. Since 1978 it has been providing the industry with outstanding printed products such as catalogues, books and magazines. “At the beginning we focused on publishing projects because we experienced high demand for quality books and catalogues featuring photorealistic images and special colours,” says Angelo Zucchi. “Thirty years ago printing was definitely considered an art. Then the so-called graphic arts industry broadened its borders and we diversified our range of services to meet different customers’ needs,” he continues.
The crisis faced by the publishing industry in the last few years has persuaded Color Art to extend its commercial printing offering, adding the production of brochures and leaflets to its range of high quality books with varnishes and special finishing effects.
Regardless of the application, Color Art has never had to compromise on quality, always pursuing the delivery of high-end products. And since its foundation, Angelo Zucchi, first in cooperation with co-owner Alberto Belleri and then with Enrico Cerqui, has been investing in cutting edge solutions to achieve excellent technical performance and constantly increase productivity. In 1999 Color Art was one of the first Italian companies to invest in a platesetter, foreseeing the revolution for this equipment. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that the printer’s vision dovetailed with Fujifilm’s aim to develop and offer advanced technologies in order to enhance the printing environment.
Today Color Art boasts a complete production workflow, with a prepress department comprising of several computer workstations to check the incoming job files and layout, a Fujifilm Luxel T-9800 platesetter with MAL (multi autoloader including 3 cassettes), and a low chemistry plate production solution of HD Brillia LH-PJE plates combined with an FLH-Z 125 processor. The press room houses five Heidelberg B1 sheet offset presses ranging from 2 to 8 colours and is complemented by two digital printers. The company is also proud of having an internal bindery department which allows it to offer finished applications.
Leadership starts with prepress
Color Art’s management team is fully aware that being competitive in an increasingly challenging market has become a mission for printers and that efficiency is a priority to stay in the lead. “We were aware that our prepress department had been suffering from stressful, heavy shifts and that we needed to streamline its productivity,” comments Angelo. “In the first instance we wanted to invest in a more efficient CTP device but it soon became clear that it would be more beneficial to renew our entire prepress equipment.”
Bearing this in mind, Color Art started an in-depth evaluation and testing process comparing different devices on the market and it eventually turned to Fujifilm. “In our opinion, Fujifilm offered the best solution and we invested in a Luxel T-9800 platesetter with multi autoloader, Brillia HD LH-PJE plates and an FLH-Z 125 processor,” explains Angelo. “It was impressive how we immediately increased our productivity. The platesetter has three cassettes holding up to 300 plates, while our previous CTP device was only able to hold up to 60 plates, and we have benefitted from the multi autoloader option. This means that we can leave the device unattended to produce plates and, because of its reliability, we rarely have to remake any. As a consequence, we have increased our output levels and gained more automation, dramatically reducing our downtime. This is extremely important because our customers are ordering shorter print runs, which means that we need to focus on shortening our lead times.”
In addition, Color Art has experienced amazing quality and consistency improvements, due to the successful combination of Fujifilm’s FLH-Z 125 processor with its Brillia HD LH-PJE thermal plates. These are long-run, positive working thermal CTP plates that don’t require pre-heating or post-baking. With enhanced handling characteristics, minimising plate spoilage, they feature Fujifilm’s patented MultiGrainTM technology for reduced ink usage and improved ink/water balance. The FLH-Z 125 processor incorporates Fujifilm’s latest intelligent ‘ZAC’ microprocessor control system and can achieve consistent, high quality plate production with minimal chemistry usage.
More efficiency for a better environment
Angelo Zucchi stresses that the increased efficiency and productivity has brought considerable environmental and cost savings to the company. “Fujifilm prides itself on offering ‘low chemistry’ solutions and there is no doubt about the truth of its claim. Not only have we achieved better plate consistency and less downtime, but we have also obtained a significant reduction in chemistry usage and waste, saving time and money. Furthermore, we have reduced the time spent on cleaning and maintenance of the system.”
The ‘ZAC’ processors have undergone extensive trials, both in-house and with Fujifilm customers, and have successfully demonstrated their ability to process a high volume of plates before cleaning is required. Compared to typical processors and finishing units, the ‘ZAC’ processors offer printers unrivalled savings by giving them the ability to develop around 8,000m2 of plates with just one replenisher bath.
“We must guarantee that the water we use is compliant with the strict standards and environmental requirements operative in Brescia. Every six months we test our replenisher bath to check the safety and cleanliness of the water we drain; we are happy to say that further to the Fujifilm installation we have noticed a remarkable improvement in our performance. We lowered our environmental impact together with our disposal costs,” adds Angelo.
In the current economic climate, Color Art stands out for its proven ability to take a look at cost saving options and environmental issues without having to compromise on quality. Angelo Zucchi concludes: “The crisis has affected our business as it has with many other companies, but we strongly believe that investing in cutting edge technologies is essential to continue to prosper and succeed, exceeding the customers’ expectations. And Fujifilm equipment has helped us to make this possible.”