Offset Printing

Kube move determines new press investment

Friday 11. September 2015 - Kube Print has used the move to new 13,500 sq ft leasehold premises in Bermondsey into an opportunity to invest in new press technology.

Rather than go to the expense of moving its four year old Speedmaster XL 75, it decided to purchase a new one, a five-colour plus coater. Heidelberg offered a good price for the outgoing machine which had been well serviced with a comprehensive Heidelberg Preventative Maintenance Agreement.
Unlike the previous press, this Speedmaster XL 75-5+L is not a perfector. The company found that capability was not well used but 20-25% of its work uses special colours and almost all is coated.
Kube Print has a reputation for supplying quality print very fast and its 24 hour operation close to the City makes it popular with many financial institutions as well as education, healthcare, charities and other sectors.
It is the need for responsiveness that determined its purchase of Autoplate Pro which managing director Adam Frost says will give it 40% improvement in plating up compared with conventional systems. Inpress Control will also cut makeready times and waste and arms the company to renew its Heidelberg ISO 12647-2 colour certification. It uses Colour Assistant to maintain the optimum ink profile by constantly comparing the spectral measurement against the job profile. This is used alongside Pressroom Manager which provides useful press performance data.
“We looked at HUV/LE-UV technology but we believe it only makes sense if the vast majority of our work is on uncoated stocks. Inpress Control is the key and the latest version, inpress Control 2, is even better than the last,” says Adam Frost. “We don’t see any sign of a viable B2 alternative to the Speedmaster XL 75 with Inpress Control.”
Inpress Control 2, launched in the spring:
Further reduces makeready times and typically saves a further 10-20% in start-up waste
Measures metallic and opaque white stocks (it already “reads” the whiteness and brightness) which obviously impacts on colour rendition
Reduces paper, ink and chemistry waste even further – a clear environmental as well as cost benefit
Integrates industry standard die-cutting marks
Makes colour standardisation even easier to achieve

The new press is in and running, operating 24 hours a day. It is a one operator press and staff like the Speedmaster XL technology and additional add-ons because it makes it easier to handle and to produce quickly and to high standards.