Tom Stowe, managing director of Vale Press, has signed a deal for a Speedmaster SX 52-5. He believes this press will give Vale Press 30 to 40 per cent greater productivity than the Printmaster PM 52 it replaces and will be a productive companion to the Speedmaster SM 52 installed last year.

The Cotswolds company based in the Vale of Evesham has constantly updated its technology and has in turn had T Offset, Printmaster PM 52, Speedmaster SM 52 and now the Speedmaster SX 52.

Half of its work is from the demanding trade sector (printers and agencies), 25 per cent from the quality minded fine art galIeries and 25 per cent from local commercial work. That means that it must have a press with the right quality as well as the right output.

This press is equipped with Intellistart. This feature gives the operator automatic step by step makeready prompts rather than having to open different screens for different operations. This significantly reduces makeready times which combined with the higher 15,000sph running speed will give Vale Press additional capacity and allow it take the work that in recent months it has had to run away.

"We are also environmentally minded and with ISO 14001 are committed to on-going improvements. This press will help us further reduce our start up paper waste, which also has cost implications. The wash ups also require minimal chemistry," he says.

At the same time the company is adding a third Polar guillotine, the Polar 78 X plus with its 18 inch touchscreen and high job memory capacity.

"We keep coming back to Heidelberg because they continue to give us sound advice and consultancy. We explain our needs and our budget and they help us to find a solution that is good for our business. They understand our needs. Also if things go wrong we know we will get a same day service call and the resale values are good," says Mr Stowe.

The equipment, which is funded by SG Finance, will operate on a double days shift and even 24 hours when demand dictates. It will handle a broad range of products up to 50,000 and even high pagination 52 to 56pp work because of the very fast makeready times.