Offset Printing
Presstek 34DI Press Helps UK Printer Digipress to Grow its Business
Thursday 30. July 2009 - Presstek, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing solutions, announces that UK printer Digipress has enjoyed a 20 percent increase in four-color printing since they installed the Presstek 34DI digital offset press five months ago.
“We have gone from strength to strength, which has been encouraging in the current marketplace” said Ian Fitzgerald, Director of Digipress.
The company started five years ago as a digital printer and diversified into offset litho printing eighteen months ago when it bought PlanIt Press, a jobbing printer. “We inherited a two-color Heidelberg GTO press, which was fine for mono and spot color work, but it quickly became apparent that we werent as competitive as we needed to be on quotes for four-color printing. Consequently we were losing jobs that we could have won if we had a four-color press,” Mr. Fitzgerald recalled.
Initially, Digipress started looking at conventional four-color presses. However, once they saw the Presstek 34DI digital offset press being demonstrated at a trade show they knew they had found the answer. “It did everything we wanted and more – quality, automation, ease of operation, without the need for chemistry,” said Mr. Fitzgerald. “There was also a big cost saving in plate production because the 34DI images all four plates automatically on press without chemistry and in precise register. Had we bought a conventional four-color press, we would also have needed the extra investment and workflow steps of a separate computer-to-plate system and its associated chemistry.”
It is the presss chemistry-free process that has made a difference to the growth of their business. As Mr. Fitzgerald pointed out, “Weve quickly realized that its a big selling point to say that we are an environmentally-friendly printer. Its something that we have always wanted to be and its paying off. As well as using soy-based inks and more recycled papers, we are also working towards FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification. Plus, there is so little waste from the DI press, which makes it economical when printing short runs.”
“The 34DI press is waterless and the results are superb, even on complex jobs. We have been so pleased with the quality at 300 lpi (120 l/cm) that were moving as much work as possible across from the Xerox digital printer to the Presstek DI press,” Mr. Fitzgerald maintained. “Unless the work is ultra-short runs or multi-page collated sets, then it is more cost effective to print it on the Presstek 34DI press, and the customers get a much better quality job.”
Additional Workflow & Imposition Solutions
Presstek also installed its Momentum Pro PDF workflow with Dynagrams inpO2 imposition system at Digipress. “We decided that since we made the investment in the Presstek DI press, which gave us increased productivity, we didnt want a bottleneck at the front end, so we bought our first workflow solution. The automated processes like preflighting, imposition and screen preview have certainly increased the speed and accuracy of makeready, while reducing operator input,” Mr. Fitzgerald commented.