Offset Printing
Image Pressworks Takes A Shine to the Speedmaster XL 105
Thursday 07. May 2009 - To accommodate growth in volume and facilitate customer needs, Image Pressworks, Inc., Portland, Ore. installed a 5-color Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 late last year.
Since then, the company has had ample opportunity to experience a handsome return on its investment in terms of both the quality and consistency of its printing. “The XL 105 had the larger format, unmatched quality and consistency, the ability to accommodate longer runs at faster speeds – everything we needed to provide our customers with top-quality printing. In fact, said Production Manager Chris Chase, “The further we push the XL 105, the better it performs. A lot of presses arent built to run at 18,000 sph, but the XL 105 lives up to its advance billing. That means we can live up to ours and be the perfectionists our customers expect us to be.”
Image Pressworks, which also operates a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74, has taken some pains, “to get both of our Heidelberg presses on the same page,” Chase explained, upgrading the CD 74 with Prinect Axis Control to achieve closed-loop color control and quality assurance comparable to the XL 105. A Suprasetter 105 computer-to-plate system with Prinect workflow, installed along with the XL 105, provides efficient, reliable plate production with no degradation of quality when different components of the same job, e.g., text and covers, are run on different presses. Heidelberg Saphira aluminum thermal plates and assorted Saphira pressroom consumables provide even greater consistency and high-quality performance.
Although the company describes itself as a general commercial printer, Image Pressworks actually “dabbles in everything,” Chase said, including pharmaceutical printing and folding. Its extensive bindery includes a 36″ POLAR 115 cutter, 29″ KAMA die cutter, Stitchmaster ST 90 8-pocket saddlestitcher with cover feeder, as well as a pair of Stahlfolder Ti 36 pharmaceutical folders. “We feel strongly that the more we can do in-house, the better service we can offer our customers,” Chase said. “That one phone call philosophy is also one of the reasons we partner up with Heidelberg. With Systemservice36 on the new XL and web-based remote service on the CD, expert technical help is always and immediately available to us, as is fast, knowledgeable on-site service when we need it.”
Thirty-year-old Image Pressworks serves a Pacific Northwest regional clientele. The company employs a staff of 30.