Prepress

Think Printing Thrives with Equipment, Workflow, and Consumables from Heidelberg

Monday 03. September 2012 - Owner Claims 'Big Advantage' in Speed, Quality and Turn Times vs. Outsourcing

While his volume has always been high and his business steady, David McGinnis, owner of Think Printing in Richmond, VA, said he wanted to wait for the economy to begin to recover from the recession before purchasing a new press. “The recession made me a better businessman,” he explained. “I learned to evaluate every expenditure in detail. We had a layoff at the peak of the downturn, but I’ve re-hired everyone since and even added personnel.”
That said, once the decision to purchase was made, it was Heidelberg all the way.
“I would never shop around,” McGinnis insisted. “If somebody gave me a competitive press for free, I wouldn’t take it. I know what works the best for my company. We’re a Heidelberg shop through and through, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The company has realized significant savings since installing a Speedmaster XL 75 4-color press and upgrading its Prinect prepress workflow in July.
The latest addition to Think Printing’s Heidelberg-powered pressroom joins the firm’s existing 6-color Speedmaster CD 74. Both presses are linked to Heidelberg’s Prinect Prepress Manager automated prepress workflow, which drives a fully automated Suprasetter 75 platesetter that provides Saphira Chemfree plates-on-demand 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The installation coincides with an uptick in volume since the company abandoned its practice of outsourcing jobs to third-party firms.
“We’ve gained a big advantage in terms of quality control and turn times by keeping the work in-house,” McGinnis said.
Peak Performance for Real Results
The new Speedmaster XL 75 comes with Prinect Axis Control color measurement system and Heidelberg’s “Peak Performance” package, which enables Think Printing to run most jobs (“everything from books to direct mail flyers”) on stocks from offset letterhead to 16-pt. board “beautifully” at or close to 18,000 iph.
“If you’re a customer and you pay by the hour for press time, it’s obviously more cost-effective to have your work done on a fast, highly productive press,” McGinnis said. For example, he cited one of the first jobs run on the new press: an order for 110,000 81/2×11″ postcards, which the company was able to “print, dry, cut, box, and ready for shipment in just an hour-and-a-half.”
This is not to diminish the performance of the company’s Speedmaster CD 74, McGinnis cautioned. “It’s tremendous press too. Heidelberg presses are the gold standard of the industry.” Predictably, Think Printing’s operators love the speed and ease-of-use of their Heidelberg presses. In fact, said McGinnis,
“When he gets an opportunity, one of our pressman likes to operate both presses all by himself, just to show how easily it can be done.”
To protect his valuable investments, McGinnis has extended service agreements on both presses. “They provide me with peace of mind and assure me of regular preventive maintenance with a minimum of downtime.”
“One of the Best Things We’ve Ever Done”
In addition to the new XL 75 and existing CD 74, Think Printing also operates a POLAR cutting system, an 8-pocket Stitchmaster saddlestitcher, and a pair of continuous-feed Stahlfolders. The company also uses the full range of Heidelberg Saphira consumables.
“Buying all our supplies from Heidelberg is one of the best things we’ve ever done,” McGinnis said. “We use less ink that dries more quickly than other inks, less spray power, and everything just runs better with Heidelberg Saphira consumables.”
Think Printing has transformed itself from an all-commercial company to a majority direct mail house since its founding in 2000. The firm competes with 40″ and half-web presses in its service area. Markets run the gamut from colleges and universities, to advertising agencies, to political candidates. The company recorded annual sales of $7 million in 2011, and is on track to double that figure in 2012.