Offset Printing
Presstek Strengthens Position in Education Sector with DI Press Installations at Three UK Universities
Wednesday 15. July 2009 - Presstek, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing solutions, has underlined its strength in the education sector with a trio of installations at prominent UK universities. Glasgow Caledonian University has installed a landscape format Presstek 52DI digital offset press, while Aberystwyth University and the University of Edinburgh have each installed a Presstek 34DI digital offset press.
Glasgow Caledonian University wanted an efficient and environmentally friendly digital offset press to replace one of its two two-colour litho presses. “With the old press we struggled to meet our deadlines because we had to run the four-colour work through twice,” says Andrew Scott, Head of Print Design Services. “Consequently we had to outsource nearly 30 percent of our work. The new Presstek DI press has greatly increased the production speed of short-to-medium run four-colour booklets, leaflets, flyers and posters etc, which represent 95 percent of our output. And were no longer outsourcing work.”
“Plus the new press is the cleanest, most environmentally friendly printing press available today. The waterless process and the automation greatly reduce the use of harmful chemicals.”
Aberystwyth University installed its second Presstek 34DI digital offset press in its Design, Print and Postal Services Department. The department was constrained by the time it was taking to make plates and they had difficulties keeping up with the volume of work. “We had to outsource a lot of work, particularly brochures,” says Howard Adair, Department Manager. “Obviously, it was more cost effective to order larger runs – but this was problematic because the material became out of date too quickly. The alternative was short runs, but these proved very expensive.”
The situation soon changed, however, with the installation of the Presstek 34DI digital offset press: “The second Presstek DI press has boosted our capacity and now we do 90 percent of our printing in house. Its made perfect commercial sense – the press has helped us dramatically reduce our costs, plus were turning work around far more quickly.”
The University of Edinburghs Printing Service Department serves the whole University, affiliated Scottish academic organisations and students. It had a range of conventional single and two-colour litho presses and digital toner devices, but struggled to produce good quality and consistently accurate four-colour jobs. This prompted the department to invest in a Presstek 34DI digital offset press.
“The DI press has been in production for three months and is very reliable,” says Stuart Mclean, Printing Services Manager. “Weve benchmarked it against our other printing devices and found that on short runs its up to 40 percent cheaper to print them on the DI press, and its 4 percent cheaper to print 4,000 copies of a 28-page document. And that doesnt take into account the ease and speed of imaging and printing on the DI press, and the superb quality it produces.
“Were anticipating a quick return on investment. The DI press means we can bring in-house 10 percent more short-to-medium run four-colour printing jobs in the first year alone.”