Prepress

Royal Broese & Peereboom Eliminates Plate Production Shifts, Increases Overall Print Capacity

Wednesday 04. June 2008 - KODAK MAGNUS 800Z QUANTUM Platesetter improves bottom line

For nearly 225 years, Royal Broese & Peereboom in Breda, Holland, has been working with its customers to deliver the most efficient, high quality solutions in prepress and printing. It provides offset and digital printing for the Dutch market as well as international clients based around the world, and its 100 employees specialize in producing everything from brochures and financial reports to b2b communications and other promotional materials.
The installation of a KODAK MAGNUS 800Z QUANTUM Platesetter, along with a KODAK PRINERGY Workflow System, at Royal Broese & Peereboom has been so successful that the company, which occupies a modern 6,000 square meter facility, eliminated the night shift in its prepress department and now produces all of the plates required for the pressroom during the day.
“After testing the MAGNUS 800Z QUANTUM Platesetter for about two months, we decided to put it into production. The speed of 60 plates per hour, the automation based on the Multi Cassette Unit and the printing quality were all perfect for our needs, and will allow us to accelerate our production,” said Royal Broese & Peereboom General Manager Wim Merkx. “The implementation of the MAGNUS 800Z QUANTUM Platesetter has resulted in huge benefits both in the prepress department and the pressroom.”
The company, which is ISO and FSC certified, found that the ease of use makes the machine ideal for unattended operation, and the large plate receiver is able to handle the needed volume of imaged plates. With six multicolor HEIDELBERG sheet fed presses, ranging from an A3 PRINTMASTER to two HEIDELBERG XL Presses with a sheet size of 750 mm x 1,050 mm, the ability to hold four different plate sizes within the KODAK Multi Cassette Unit enables the company to supply the appropriate plates to all of its presses. In addition, the MAGNUS 800Z QUANTUM Platesetter automatically selects the correct plate for the next job to be handled.
The automation features of the platesetter enable the Royal Broese & Peereboom operators to prepare the jobs and set the device to produce plates overnight with no manual intervention. When the press operators arrive in the morning, plates for the first jobs of the day are ready to go. The company has been operating like this for several months, and the reliable performance of the device has made this possible.
“We also have experienced some major advantages in the pressroom, with much faster makereadies allowing us to reduce paper waste and produce more work,” added Merkx. “With approximately 10,000 jobs a year, significant savings on makeready times across all of our presses obviously has a major impact on cost effectiveness.”
The KODAK MAGNUS 800Z QUANTUM Platesetter employs a new, advanced thermal head that generates double the laser power of earlier MAGNUS Platesetters. The new thermal head not only increases the speed of plate production, but also provides broader imaging latitude and higher stability in case of plate sensitivity variations.
KODAK Products are backed by KODAK Service and Support. KODAK Service and Support is made up of more than 3,000 professionals reaching more than 120 countries. It is a leading multi vendor integrated services provider, delivering consulting, installation, maintenance and support services for the commercial printing, graphic communications, document imaging and data storage industries. KODAK Service and Support professionals are uniquely qualified to provide services that control costs, maximize productivity, and minimize business risk.