The Fabian print shop in Constance, Germany, has been operating a five-color Speedmaster SX 74 press with AutoPlate Pro in a field test since January 2012 - and confirms the benefits.
"The new press has boosted our productivity by up to 50 percent compared to our four-color Speedmaster SM 74 press from 2006," says Managing Director Carsten Fabian. Founded in 1969, the print shop has 13 employees who produce typical commercial materials for large and midsize industrial enterprises throughout Germany. Prepress works exclusively with Saphira printing plates and has an average throughput of 15 plate sets a day. "The new plate changer helps us ensure fast delivery times to our customers, particularly in the case of short runs and frequent job changes," says Fabian. "A further advantage of the new press is that it enables us to apply printing varnishes and spot colors in a single pass - a service that is being requested by a growing number of our customers," he continues.
The new Speedmaster SX models from Heidelberg combine the cutting-edge technology of the Speedmaster XL class with the tried-and-tested platform of the Speedmaster SM series to form a new performance class. So new Speedmaster SX 74 delivers outstanding print quality, high stability in production, intuitive and ergonomic operation, and a high level of automation.
Depending on the particular requirements, the Speedmaster SX 74 can be equipped with a wide range of components, such as the fully automatic AutoPlate Pro plate changer system, transfer cylinders with adjustable diameters for use with thicker materials, ink zone calibration and optimization with Color Assistant Pro, and the PerfectJacket Blue and TransferJacket Blue jacket technology. These turn the Speedmaster SX 74 into a highly automated machine capable of delivering a sustained boost to productivity.