DXP Saves Time and Money with Presstek’s Chemistry-Free Aurora Pro Plates

WEST DRAYTON, UK—June 16, 2010—Presstek, Inc., a leading supplier of digital offset printing solutions to the printing and communications industries, today announced that DXP Print Solutions in Wickford, Essex, has switched to Presstek chemistry-free Aurora Pro plates for use with its five-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster 74. Plates are imaged on a Kodak Trendsetter computer-to-plate system. The company, which prints a range of four-colour marketing and point-of-sale materials, currently produces up to 1,400 plates per month.

Aurora Pro is a chemistry-free, 100% daylight-safe thermal anodised grained aluminum plate that has been certified for use on 830 nm computer-to-plate systems, including Presstek Compass and Dimension Pro, as well as third-party platesetters from Screen, Heidelberg, and Kodak (Creo). After imaging, the plate requires a simple water wash before it is ready to mount on press.

Cost Savings
“We were interested when Presstek told us that they were launching a new chemistry-free plate for third-party thermal CTP users,” said Nick Livemore, Director. “Price is always an issue, and we wanted to determine whether we could save money while at the same time improving our productivity and maintaining our quality. Aurora Pro plates have met all of those objectives.”

The company had been using plates that develop on press, a process it found to be expensive and to have some limitations. “The biggest limitation was that we were not able to see and check the image before the plates were mounted on press,” Livemore explains. “Once we realised that there was an error on a plate when printing a five-colour job, we had to stop the press, remove the offending plates, and correct and re-image new plates. This could waste up to an hour’s production time, leaving our presses idle during that time. This is not the case with Aurora.”

DXP also installed a water wash unit for use with the Aurora Pro plates and the Trendsetter. Livemore points out that once Aurora Pro plate are imaged on the Trendsetter and rinsed in the water washer, the image is clearly visible and can be checked for errors prior to mounting on press. Mistakes are instantly spotted, saving time and hassle. “It’s a much cleaner process,” Livemore adds. “There are no particles left in either the fountain solution or the ink train, and no press contamination, a huge advantage over our previous plates. Although we were initially concerned about the maintenance of the wash unit, it only takes ten minutes every two weeks, not a burden at all.”

Aurora Pro plates will hold 1%-99% at 200 lpi. DXP, who have standardised their printing at 200 lpi, have found that the quality of the image is significantly sharper than with their previous plates. “With our previous plates, we were also experiencing colour matching problems, which the deployment of Aurora Pro has overcome,” Livemore commented.

Saving production time
DXP is saving about one and a half minutes on the production of each plate. “While this does not sound like much, it adds up when you consider that in the first week of this month we produced 440 plates,” said Livemore. “Presstek specifies that we should get 25,000 impressions off of a plate, but depending upon the type of work, we actually can get more than that from a set of plates, meaning fewer plate changes. This is added to the fact that we can inspect the plates before mounting them, reducing idle time on press. Our productivity has improved substantially, thanks to Presstek and Aurora Pro.”

Livemore is pleased that Aurora Pro plates are considerably less expensive than the previous plates he was using. He also appreciates the fact that they are very stable, which is vital to a small and flexible business like DXP. “If for some reason we can’t print a job, then we can’t meet our customer’s expectations and their increasingly tight deadlines,” he said. “Handling a variety of jobs predictably and reliably is our lifeline.”

"Previously Presstek plates were only available for our own hardware,” said Peter Swann, UK National Sales Manager for Presstek. “Now we can offer the benefit of high speed, thermal digital plates—with no gum or developer to buy or dispose of—to a wide range of printers who are looking for chemistry-free plates to use in their existing thermal imagers. This open platform approach is a critical part of Presstek’s growth strategy and is allowing us to gain a presence in a broader range of companies across Europe.”

About Presstek
Presstek, Inc. is a leading supplier of digital offset printing solutions to the printing and communications industries. Presstek’s DI® digital offset solutions bridge the gap between toner and conventional offset printing, enabling printers to cost effectively meet increasing customer demand for high quality, short run color printing with a fast turnaround time while providing improved profit margins. The Company’s CTP portfolio ranges from two-page to eight-page systems, many of which are fully automated. These systems support Presstek’s line of chemistry-free plates as well as Aeon, a no preheat thermal plate which offers run lengths up to one million impressions. Presstek also offers a range of workflow solutions, pressroom supplies, and reliable service. Presstek is well positioned to support print environments of any size on a worldwide basis. For more information visit www.presstek.com , send an e-mail to info@presstek.com or call +44 20 8745 8000 (Europe) or +1 603 595 7000 (North America).