Speedmaster SM 102 - User Report: Druckerei Conrad
The Art of Printing
Print meets art in the print shop "Druckerei Conrad" in Berlin as customers and interested visitors have the chance there to take a look at changing exhibitions of contemporary artists. The man behind this is Matthias Fuhrmann, he - together with Karl-Heinz Zahn - is the owner of "Druckerei Conrad" and at the same time he is a busy gallery owner and art collector. Beside the print shop, Matthias Fuhrmann is running two galleries in north-eastern Germany which are concentrating on exhibiting and selling works from contemporary artists. The print shop is ideally placed in Berlin to be in direct contact with the lively arts scene of the German capital. At present, tableaus from the painter Horst Hussel are decorating the walls of Conrad.
This dedication is also reflected in the job structure of the print shop. Printing posters, catalogues and programs for cultural institutions are daily business. Conrad has become an established brand and a preferred supplier when it comes to the printing of demanding jobs in this segment. The highlight so far was the making of the catalogue for the exhibition of Neo Rauch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Quality and quickness was the challenge, and so the first catalogues were brought to New York by M. Fuhrmann himself.
Advertising agencies and numerous service companies are as well appreciating Conrad's competence from the creation of graphics, via printing to finishing, no matter whether it is about 1,000 posters or about 100,000 flyers, with or without coating, folded, cut, die-cut or grooved. And a digital print shop in the center of Berlin is complementing Conrad's offer to his customers. "In the meanwhile, three fulltime-employees are serving the customers with digital printing, and the business is constantly growing."
Print meets art in the print shop "Druckerei Conrad" in Berlin as customers and interested visitors have the chance there to take a look at changing exhibitions of contemporary artists. The man behind this is Matthias Fuhrmann, he - together with Karl-Heinz Zahn - is the owner of "Druckerei Conrad" and at the same time he is a busy gallery owner and art collector. Beside the print shop, Matthias Fuhrmann is running two galleries in north-eastern Germany which are concentrating on exhibiting and selling works from contemporary artists. The print shop is ideally placed in Berlin to be in direct contact with the lively arts scene of the German capital. At present, tableaus from the painter Horst Hussel are decorating the walls of Conrad.
This dedication is also reflected in the job structure of the print shop. Printing posters, catalogues and programs for cultural institutions are daily business. Conrad has become an established brand and a preferred supplier when it comes to the printing of demanding jobs in this segment. The highlight so far was the making of the catalogue for the exhibition of Neo Rauch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Quality and quickness was the challenge, and so the first catalogues were brought to New York by M. Fuhrmann himself.
Advertising agencies and numerous service companies are as well appreciating Conrad's competence from the creation of graphics, via printing to finishing, no matter whether it is about 1,000 posters or about 100,000 flyers, with or without coating, folded, cut, die-cut or grooved. And a digital print shop in the center of Berlin is complementing Conrad's offer to his customers. "In the meanwhile, three fulltime-employees are serving the customers with digital printing, and the business is constantly growing."
At the beginning in 1991, Matthias Fuhrmann and Karl-Heinz Zahn
purchased the company, employing two printers. Today the staff has
risen to 50 employees. In the printing department, all machines
installed are from Heidelberg. Three Speedmaster 70x100 and a
Speedmaster 52 supply the right amount of capacity and flexibility
to give Conrad a competitive edge.
The last investment was a Speedmaster SM 102-8-P+L, the newest generation of Heidelberg's successful 102-model for printing both sides of the sheet in one pass. The machine replaced a Speedmaster SM 102-6-P+L and increased the capacity as well as the competitiveness of Conrad significantly. "We are extremely satisfied with this investment, the machine even exceeded the performance promised by Heidelberg," says M. Fuhrmann. "It is hard to point out a single component, it is rather the whole harmonizing system which leads to the superior performance."
Starting from the Preset Plus Feeder, able to handle even voluminous book paper with his preset format- and air settings, to the printing- and coating units, transferring the freshly printed sheets smear-free to the extended Preset Plus Delivery, which is putting the sheets - printed on both sides and coated - safely upon an exactly built pile.
The Speedmaster SM 102-8-P+L is the all-rounder among Conrad's printing machines. Even if the four-over-four production is predominant, the flexibility to print up to eight colors with coating in a single pass is important, around 35% of the jobs are printed with at least five colors and coating. In addition, Conrad uses the coating unit for inline-die-cutting or -perforating. According to Mr. Fuhrmann, this is the most economical way to produce these jobs - in a single pass and with more than 10,000 sheets per hour. The press, almost 20m long is usually operated by one single printer, who is monitoring all relevant machine functions at his Prinect Press Center with the large Wallscreen. In summary, the Speedmaster SM 102-8-P+L offers the flexibility and the productivity, a modern print shop needs to stay ahead of his competitors. The machine performance as well as the competence and reliability of the service team were the key factors for Matthias Fuhrmann and Karl-Heinz Zahn, to invest again in technology from Heidelberg.
The last investment was a Speedmaster SM 102-8-P+L, the newest generation of Heidelberg's successful 102-model for printing both sides of the sheet in one pass. The machine replaced a Speedmaster SM 102-6-P+L and increased the capacity as well as the competitiveness of Conrad significantly. "We are extremely satisfied with this investment, the machine even exceeded the performance promised by Heidelberg," says M. Fuhrmann. "It is hard to point out a single component, it is rather the whole harmonizing system which leads to the superior performance."
Starting from the Preset Plus Feeder, able to handle even voluminous book paper with his preset format- and air settings, to the printing- and coating units, transferring the freshly printed sheets smear-free to the extended Preset Plus Delivery, which is putting the sheets - printed on both sides and coated - safely upon an exactly built pile.
The Speedmaster SM 102-8-P+L is the all-rounder among Conrad's printing machines. Even if the four-over-four production is predominant, the flexibility to print up to eight colors with coating in a single pass is important, around 35% of the jobs are printed with at least five colors and coating. In addition, Conrad uses the coating unit for inline-die-cutting or -perforating. According to Mr. Fuhrmann, this is the most economical way to produce these jobs - in a single pass and with more than 10,000 sheets per hour. The press, almost 20m long is usually operated by one single printer, who is monitoring all relevant machine functions at his Prinect Press Center with the large Wallscreen. In summary, the Speedmaster SM 102-8-P+L offers the flexibility and the productivity, a modern print shop needs to stay ahead of his competitors. The machine performance as well as the competence and reliability of the service team were the key factors for Matthias Fuhrmann and Karl-Heinz Zahn, to invest again in technology from Heidelberg.
Especially for artists it is very important to have a final
influence on the ink settings, when their job is started to be
printed. Once the perfect settings are found, the stability of the
ink throughout the whole run is monitored with Prinect Image
Control and eventually necessary adjustments are sent automatically
to the press. Prinect Image Control is the only device in the
market, being able to measure the complete sheet, and not only the
color bar. This feature is particularly important, when it comes to
print color management. Conrad is regularly printing standardized
control jobs, to keep his characteristic curves always
updated. With Prinect Image Control the measurement of the many
test charts and the matching to the reference value is only a
matter of minutes.
Working economically is also a matter of handling resources carefully. It is primarily the paper that has an enormous potential, because every Millimeter costs - money as well as natural resources for its production. "We are able to save costs and waste by reducing the print free area down to 7mm due to the dynamic sheet brakes without restrictions in print quality or in press speed", states Mr. Fuhrmann.
Matthias Fuhrmann sees his print shop well positioned and he is confident about the future development of the company. "Permanently modernizing the production technology is a prerequisite to stay competitive, but our reason for success is also the knowledge of our own strengths and last but not least, Freude am Beruf - joy in our profession". This has always been and will be the motto of Conrad.
Working economically is also a matter of handling resources carefully. It is primarily the paper that has an enormous potential, because every Millimeter costs - money as well as natural resources for its production. "We are able to save costs and waste by reducing the print free area down to 7mm due to the dynamic sheet brakes without restrictions in print quality or in press speed", states Mr. Fuhrmann.
Matthias Fuhrmann sees his print shop well positioned and he is confident about the future development of the company. "Permanently modernizing the production technology is a prerequisite to stay competitive, but our reason for success is also the knowledge of our own strengths and last but not least, Freude am Beruf - joy in our profession". This has always been and will be the motto of Conrad.
