Offset Printing

Investment continues as Alpha Colour addresses the succession issue

Monday 28. October 2013 - A new full colour press has been bought by Alpha Colour, giving it greater printing firepower, enhancing the volume of print it can handle, improving its response times and making it even more environmentally sustainable.

The second Speedmaster XL 75 was confirmed by Alpha Colour at the Heidelberg Colour Days open house. The company has elected to buy the Speedmaster XL 75-4+LX with the option to carbon neutralise it is adding an electric metering system, allowing it to measure the kilowatts used in production.
The company – which holds ISO 140001, FSC and PEFC environmental certifications – is pleased that this latest press will have a 20% reduction in energy usage but a 30-40% improvement in productivity over the Speedmaster CD 74 it replaces.
The energy saving comes from reducing the configuration of press from five to four units and the use of the latest DryStar 3000 dryer technology. The wash up chemistry used on this press is also reduced
The four-colour configuration will mop up the process jobs as it already has a Speedmaster XL 75-5 for work with an additional special. It effectively doubles its litho capacity. Most of its business – which includes a high volume of work for greetings cards publishers, councils and blue chip companies – is straight process work. Coating will be universally applied, the only means of meeting today’s response requirements but with the side benefit of enhancing the aesthetic look and feel of finished work.
Once again the company has opted to use Axis Control spectral measurement to enhance its reputation for quality, to cut makeready times and reduce both start up and running waste.
Sensibly, Alpha Colour is looking to the future and putting a succession plan in place. Managing director Jeff Williams has begun to step back from the business, working a shorter week, and passing more responsibility to: Dave Oldfield, operations director; Richard Butt, technical director; and his wife Maggie Williams, sales director.
“I am still involved with the decision-making, of course, but succession planning is important and the time is right for me to make way for others by reducing my hours,” says Jeff Williams, who is using his additional free time to improve his cycling. He is very confident of his new team.
Dave Oldfield says: “About 85% of our work is litho, although we have three digital machines, at our plant or the council inplants we run. We are convinced Heidelberg users and this press, with its very environmental features, really will save us in electricity, paper and chemistry costs.”
The press will run on two shifts a day but the company would consider operating around the clock if demand justified such a move.