For Buchanan Visual Communications, the Future Of Print Lies in Perfecting

Buchanan, a veteran of perfecting, already had two Diamond 3000R models (a four-color and an eight-color with single coaters) and a 10-color, 40-inch Heidelberg Speedmaster in the pressroom when the company decided to upgrade its production capacity to include a 12-color machine.

“The 12-color press pushes about the same amount of work out the door per hour as two six-color straight presses with half the labor cost,” Johnson observed. “The Dallas market is made up predominantly of printers that have the capabilities to perform standard four-over-four work. A lot of printers have upgraded to five-color and six-color presses. But unfortunately, the five- and six-color market has become commodity driven. To fight the battle with decreasing margins, especially on the commodity work, you need to generate more revenue for every hour of production. The only way to do that is with perfecting presses. Three years ago, we began converting all of our sheetfed equipment to perfecting.”