Especially for Small Printers

Smaller print shops often face the question: How can I remain competitive? Heidelberg designed the Suprasetter A52 and Prinect MetaDimension 52i especially for them. By using thermal platesetting and the corresponding prepress workflow, they can improve quality and profitability considerably.

Distinguishing yourself from the competition starts in prepress. The prepress process determines who will become the top provider in a market niche or which players can establish themselves as full-service providers. Smaller print shops with large ambitions have faced a problem up until now: The equipment and solutions necessary to improve quality were usually beyond their reach - i.e. too expensive and too complicated. These are concerns that will soon disappear with the Suprasetter A52 and MetaDimension 52i. Heidelberg tailored the platesetter and software especially to the needs of smaller print shops that primarily produce in the 2-up or 4-up format. "These businesses have few employees and little space. At the same time, they have a high degree of manual work in order to be able to process their generally short-notice orders. Therefore our goal was to select the particular functions from our machines and solutions in the high-end range which would give ambitious small-size print shops the necessary advantage in their daily business," explains Mark Ihlenfeldt, Product Manager of imaging systems at Heidelberg.

Mr. Ihlenfeldt, why is it worthwhile using thermal platesetting technology and prepress workflow? Please list the five most important reasons.

1. …because platesetting is faster and doesn't involve as much time and money
With a CtP platesetter, you are spared assembling the film and the "double processing" of film and plate. In addition, using thermal technology, the plates can be exposed under normal daylight conditions. Enhanced to include the Auto Top Loader, the Suprasetter can finish up to 100 plates fully automatically. In particular, businesses with two shifts can take advantage of this and produce their plates at night so that they can start printing right away in the first shift the next day.

2. ...because it's possible to print with processless and chemical-free plates
The Suprasetter A52 can produce conventional, chemical-free and processless plates. The use of processless and chemical-free plates doesn't just benefit the environment. It also has the advantage that chemicals no longer have to be bought or disposed of. The platesetter therefore amortizes within a very short amount of time. Furthermore, the chemical-free rubber coating doesn't wear out under the influence of oxygen. Businesses that don't produce plates around the clock profit particularly from this process reliability.

3. …because the quality is better
In the case of direct imaging onto a printing plate, you no longer have the intermediary steps with a film workflow that can lead to loss of quality. An over- or underexposure of the plates is no longer possible. Thanks to the large selection of more than 40 types of plates, including Heidelberg Saphira plates, print shops can choose the exact plate to meet their individual needs - in terms of the screen, for example. Depending on the application and the type of plate, Prinect MetaDimension 52i can process screen rulings up to 250 lines per inch (100 lines per centimeter). With the optional Hybrid screen, a screen frequency up to 400 lines per inch (160 lines per centimeter) is possible.

4. …because it's simpler and more economical
Print shops benefit most of all from the automated steps and reduced sources of error. For example, storage of work processes like impositioning, proofing and calibration saves valuable time and quality is more reliable. This helps when producing recurring jobs, for example. Automatically generated presettings for ink zones shorten the printing press' makeready time, while a true-to-color proof speeds up the customer approval process. Thanks to the Suprasetter A52/A75, plates ready for printing can be produced within a few minutes. And those using the Suprasetter's integrated plate puncher can even avoid waste.

5. ... because the solutions grow with you
Both the Suprasetter and Prinect MetaDimension 52i are installed simply by using plug and play. And both grow with a print shop's needs. With software, the Suprasetter A52 can be upgraded to the A75 version, that is, to the 4-up format. The platesetter can be retrofitted with the Auto Top Loader for fully automatic production, including the removal of slip sheets. Print shops looking for more functions during impositioning can expand their RIP solution with the Prinect Signa Station.

Mr. Ihlenfeldt, based on your experience with customers, what would your tip to users be?
It would be wrong to expect that simply installing the Suprasetter and the RIP system is enough to achieve ideal results at the push of a button. While both solutions are indeed user-friendly, setting up a workflow by trial and error that will meet your exact needs costs a lot of time and money. I therefore suggest that customers let Heidelberg experts show them the ropes with on-site training courses, for example. That makes it significantly easier to quickly put the Suprasetter A52 and Prinect Meta Dimension 52i's full potential to use and achieve the greatest gains in terms of quality and profitability. That's what it is all about after all.