Heidelberg USA announces the following new product
installations:
Kennesaw, Ga. -
Japs-Olson Installs Speedmaster XL 105 12-Color Perfector
The Japs-Olson Company in St. Louis Park, MN recently
purchased and installed a Peak Performance Speedmaster XL 105
12-color perfector with extended delivery and aqueous coater, and
featuring Heidelberg Prinect components including Prinect Prepress
Interface and two Prinect Inpress Control reporting systems
installed before and after the perfecting unit. The new press also
features Heidelberg's 2009 InterTech Award-winning Prinect Press
Center with high-definition Wallscreen Application. The company
already is running the new press across three shifts, seven days a
week, with no slowdown in sight. Moreover, thanks to not one but
two integrated Inpress control systems, the new XL 105 can produce
color-perfect printing on both sides, in one pass, at the full
rated speed of 15,000 sph.
"We are very happy with the set-up and changeover times on
this press, as well as with its overall productivity," said company
president Michael Murphy. "I would say it's looking very good for
fulfilling our expectations - and then some."
The new press joins Japs-Olson's Heidelberg-intensive
pressroom, which already hosts a bevy of 12-, 10-, and 8-color
Speedmaster 102s. The company's full-service bindery offers an
assortment of Heidelberg POLAR cutting systems, Stitchmaster
saddlestitchers and Stahlfolders-including a new TH model with
Speedbander. All machines are networked with Heidelberg Prinect
components.
Japs-Olson is a 102-year-old direct mail production and
commercial print specialist serving a national client base from its
500,000-square-foot facility in St. Louis Park. The company employs
more than 500 people. What keeps longtime customer Japs-Olson
coming back to Heidelberg? "Great equipment and reliable service,"
Murphy answers. "It really is that simple."
Check out the ultra-productive Speedmaster XL 105
here.
DocuMart Revs Up Prepress Workflow with Heidelberg
Suprasetter A75
DocuMart reports the installation of a Suprasetter A75 SCL
CtP device with Prinect prepress workflow at its Portland, OR
facility. The new platesetter replaced a competitive machine that
hampered operations with lower quality, lower resolution, slower
speeds and an unstable RIP. In contrast, said Prepress Manager
Michael Hood, "The new Suprasetter not only has greatly improved
our speed, but the quality is such that we don't have to
recalibrate all the time, and the line resolution and hybrid
screening yield a much cleaner dot." In addition, "Our Saphira
thermal plates don't need much water, so they run better on press."
Best of all, said Hood, who lobbied energetically for the
Heidelberg machine, the Suprasetter's single cassette loader
enables the platesetter to run at night, leaving perfect, finished
plates for press operators in the morning. The new Suprasetter
currently produces around 1,500 plates per month for DocuMart. As
for service after the sale, Heidelberg personnel have been nothing
less than "awesome," Hood said.
Family owned and with 51 employees in Portland, OR, DocuMart
serves a broad-based regional clientele. The company has several
other locations in Portland, in addition to facilities in Utah,
Louisiana and Colorado.
Perfectly productive: the
Suprasetter
A75
Laurel Print and Graphics Installs All-Heidelberg Lineup After
Disaster Strikes
When a flash flood destroyed the equipment in his
6,000-square-foot print shop earlier this summer, the owner of
Laurel Print and Graphics in Turtle Creek, PA saw the chance to
transform an emergency into an opportunity. Following a period
during which the company outsourced its work-on-hand to other local
firms, Laurel print replaced its defunct cutter, folder, and two
small-format presses (both Heidelbergs) with a new lineup entirely
by Heidelberg, including a POLAR 78 XS high-speed cutter, a
Stahlfolder USA B20 with right-angle attachment, a Printmaster PM
52 4-color press, a Printmaster QM 46 2-color machine, and
assorted, Heidelberg-branded Saphira pressroom consumables. "It's
not necessarily the way we wanted to get there, but I've always
wanted to have an all-Heidelberg shop," said company president
Keith Jones. Although the new equipment has been in production for
less than a month at this point, Jones already is convinced that
his all-Heidelberg instincts were dead-on in the first place. "We
always had performance and reliability issues with other suppliers'
equipment," he said, "but our older Printmaster PM 52 2-color press
ran for four productive, problem-free years before the flood. We
look forward to more of the same."
Laurel Print and Graphics provides business stationery,
brochures, leaflets, forms, postcards and other commercially
printed materials to a regional client base located in western
Pennsylvania. The company employs a staff of five.
Better than ever:
POLAR
78XS high-speed cutter;
Stahlfolder
USA B20 ;
Printmaster
PM 52 ; and
Printmaster
QM46 .
M13 Graphics Installs Twin POLAR Cutters with Compucut
M13 Graphics, Inc. is an online retail design and printing
company currently in transition from outside brokering to in-house
manufacturing. To help negotiate the shift, the company recently
installed a pair of POLAR 115 XT guillotine cutters with lifts,
jogger and scales, and proceeded to network them via Heidelberg
Compucut software. Compucut creates efficient cutting programs for
M13's POLAR high-speed cutters by generating all required
presettings from CtP files and loading the correct cutting program
into the machine, enabling it to operate without interruption. This
was of paramount importance to the company, whose bread-and-butter
derives from its ability to print, then gang run a wide variety of
differently sized products-business cards, flyers, postcards,
brochures, etc.-on a single sheet.
"It's like a huge jigsaw puzzle," said company owner
Dan Banakis. "Before we had Compucut, it would take us anywhere
from six to 10 hours at night to lay out those sheets, compared
with the few minutes per form it takes now. It's a huge work- and
time-saver, especially since we specialize in run lengths between
1,000 and 5,000 pieces and provide 24-hour turnaround on most
projects." Not surprisingly, Banakis views autoprogramming with
Compucut and waste removal via Autotrim as vital to M13's campaign
to build efficiency and trim costs.
The decision to in-source its printing and cutting work will
enable M13 to more closely control the quality of the work itself,
and to realize a greater profit in the bargain, Banakis explains.
"Outsourcing the kind of work we do often meant that our jobs would
get pushed to the end of the queue and compromise our ability to
provide next-day service."
M13 Graphics, which had been operating from a temporary
facility in nearby Morton Grove, IL, commenced business in its new
manufacturing mode from its expanded headquarters in Schaumburg on
Sept. 1.
One sharp cookie: the
POLAR
115 XT with Autotrim
Western Robidoux Adds Second Printmaster QM 46
With a history of customer service that stretches back
more than 100 years, Western Robidoux, a family-owned commercial
printer in St. Joseph, MO knows what works. When the time came to
replace its aging Printmaster QM 46-2 small-format press,
therefore, the company bought another one. The new press joins a
lineup of Heidelberg equipment that includes a 5-color Speedmaster
52 with aqueous coater, a Stahlfolder USA B20 folder and a POLAR
78X paper cutter. As for the new QM 46, the company loads up the
press with a variety of commercial 2-color work in various format
sizes, including brochures, business cards, fliers, and other
materials, making efficient use of the new machine's central format
settings, ability to handle a wide range of printing stocks and
perform accelerated job changes. The company also utilizes a
small-format accessory that permits the more efficient feeding of
A2 envelopes.
"You know," said plant manager Peter Burri, "The only time
we've been less than satisfied in terms of investment is when we
didn't buy a piece of Heidelberg equipment. Heidelberg is a company
that does what it says." Western Robidoux employs a staff of 22 and
serves a diverse client base located in northwest MO.
Tucson Printer Banishes Downtime with QM 46-2 from Heidelberg
AlphaGraphics 153 (Cooper Enterprises, Inc.) in Tucson, AZ
recently added a Heidelberg Printmaster QM 46 2-color press to
relieve the load on an aging QM 46-2, which had "outlived" its
original service contract. According to owner Keith Cooper, the new
press is "a real workhorse" that handles "spot color work,
everything," in addition to saving on labor, time, service calls
and downtime. "It's also easier to produce a good quality piece on
the new press," Cooper added. The small commercial printer produces
about 250 Heidelberg Cristala plates each month on its Heidelberg
Quicksetter.
Founded in 1986, the family owned AlphaGraphics franchise
employs a staff of 14 and serves a local clientele. Annual revenue
is in the $1.5 million range.
For a closer look at the
Printmaster
QM 46, click here.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen
A technology provider and partner in the print media industry
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is with its
sheetfed offset printing machines one of the leading solution
providers for the print media industry. All over the world, the
name Heidelberg is synonymous with state-of-the art technology, top
quality, and closeness to the customer. The core business of this
technology group covers the whole value-added and process chain for
the 35 x 50 cm (13.78 x 19.69 in) to 121 x 162 cm (47.64 x 63.78
in) format classes in the sheetfed offset sector.
Heidelberg develops and produces precision printing presses,
platesetters, postpress equipment, and software for integrating all
the printshop processes. Environmental protection has an enduring
importance in this regard. Solutions for the development,
production, and utilization of presses help to conserve resources,
reduce emissions, and cut wastage. The Heidelberg portfolio also
provides general and consulting services ranging from spare parts
and consumables to the sale of remarketed equipment, and training
at the Print Media Academy.
Based in Heidelberg, Germany, with development and production
sites in seven countries and around 250 sales offices across the
globe, the company supports around 200,000 customers worldwide. All
Heidelberg presses destined for the world market are manufactured
at the Wiesloch-Walldorf site in line with strict quality
standards. Standardized presses in all standard format classes and
folding machines for the Chinese market are produced by Heidelberg
in Qingpu near Shanghai.
Heidelberg presses worldwide produce high-quality print
products such as business cards, brochures, posters, and folding
cartons.
In financial year 2008/2009, Heidelberg recorded sales of EUR
2.999 billion. As at March 31, 2009, the Heidelberg Group had a
workforce of 18,926 worldwide, including 707 trainees.
Jean-Marie Hershey
540-297-3556
jmh@writehandcom.com