Offset Printing

Ratcliff & Roper invests in Speedmaster SX74-5+L and boosts capacity

Tuesday 27. May 2014 - Ratcliff & Roper has just completed its biggest investment since the company was founded in 1946.

The company, which was bought seven years ago by husband and wife team Kevin and Tracy White, has thrived despite the recession and, after several years of successful trading, decided the time was right to increase capacity to meet growing demand.
Kevin White, formerly the company’s production director, is a long time Heidelberg devotee.
“We have had other makes of small format press in the past, but none lasted as well as Heidelberg machines and they certainly didn’t retain the same residual value,” he says. “The new press has replaced our existing SM 74-5 and has halved our makeready times and increased production speed from the start.
“Many of our customers need a fifth colour and all our work is coated for speed of turnaround. Autoplate has helped reduce downtime between jobs and EasyControl spectral measurement means that special Pantones can be recorded and stored for re-use.”
The press operators have responded well to training on the SX74 and the company is convinced that, over a double day shift, capacity will soon show at least a 50% increase in productivity.
Ratcliff & Roper is a convinced Prinect workflow user and, with the new connectivity, Mr White and key personnel can be sent reports and data in real-time to their mobiles, helping them to keep on top of schedules.
The company is also on track to upgrade its CTP later this year, replacing a Topsetter with a Suprasetter to increase plate output to match the SX74’s productivity.
“We already have JDF compliant finishing facilities at Ratcliff & Roper and these will be networked with the new CTP when it’s installed,” says Mr White.
“The timing of the investment was right, both in terms of the £-Euro exchange rate and the more generous capital allowances and, on the back of a very successful period of trading, Ratcliff & Roper are in great shape to invest and expand with the very latest in press technology”