Heidelberg Reports Prepress, Press and Postpress Product Installs

KENNESAW, GA—Feb. 28, 2011—Heidelberg has announced the following new prepress, press and postpress product installations by U.S. printers, including Inland Label and Marketing Services, Falcon Packaging & Converting, Gateway Printing & Office Supply, Olympic Printing and Zoo Printing:

One to Grow On: Inland Label Acquires Second Speedmaster XL 105

Inland Label and Marketing Services, headquartered in La Crosse, WI, reports the installation of its second Speedmaster XL 105-8+L with CutStar in-line sheeting unit, aqueous coater, Prinect Press Center with Intellistart operator guidance system, integrated Wallscreen, and Prinect Inpress Control color measurement and control system. Except for the upgrade to the in-line Inpress Control, the new press is identical to the company’s first Speedmaster XL 105, installed in 2008. Inland offers a wide range of home-grown and proprietary ink and coating systems, most of which are highly engineered and developed specifically for individual customers. Accordingly, the new press is outfitted for future upgrades including alternative ink systems such as UV.

The new installation positions Inland Label to handle a growing volume of package decoration projects as the company navigates a shift in demand from paper to very lightweight film labels. Product offerings include cut-and-stack, pressure-sensitive, roll-fed, injection in-mold and blow-mold labels for customers in the beverage, food and consumer product markets. The company produces more than 20 billion premium offset and gravure-printed package labels annually.

Family owned and operated for three generations, Inland Label is exclusively dedicated to package decoration. The company employs 250 at its three facilities. The company’s history of investment, innovation and superior customer service distinguishes it from the run-of-the-mill and keeps it growing.

Polar 155 XT Undertakes Heavy Duty at Houston’s Falcon Packaging

Falcon Packaging & Converting in Houston, TX, took delivery of a Polar 155 XT high-speed, programmable guillotine cutter with extended backgauge and Polar stack lift in December. As a result, said company president David Powell, “We not only have improved our efficiency and productivity dramatically, but our confidence in the products we manufacture is higher.”

The new cutter replaces a 30-year-old Polar machine and joins an existing five-year-old Polar 155 XT in Falcon’s busy cutting department, where the company converts all types, calipers and sizes of coated and uncoated chipboard. The new cutter’s 2m extended backgauge now enables the company to cut stock up to 78-inch long, while the ergonomic design and easy programmability of the new cutter are popular with Falcon’s operators. Falcon also produces custom sheets, corrugated cartons, and plastic bags and films for a nationwide customer base.

Established in 2003, Falcon Packaging & Converting boasts a long relationship with Heidelberg, based on expectations of quality, performance and service.

Gateway Printing Runs with Assurance on Heidelberg Prepress and Press Equipment

Gateway Printing & Office Supply, Edinburg, TX, reports the installation of a Heidelberg Suprasetter 105 CtP device with Prinect Prepress Manager workflow and Prinect Prepress Interface to ensure the direct transfer of print-relevant parameters from the prepress to the press setting stage with minimal waste. The company also installed a second Printmaster QM 46-2 concurrently with the new Suprasetter, which is used to image Saphira Chemfree plates.

Gateway, along with its subsidiary, Jones & Cook Stationers, serves customers across North America from locations in Edinburg, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, McAllen, Houston and San Antonio, offering office supplies, office furniture and teaching aids, along with its full service commercial and promotional printing. The company’s printing division produces high-quality, four-color and five-color printing for national and international businesses, as well as for local companies and organizations.

Gateway’s pressroom houses Heidelberg presses exclusively, including the pair of Printmaster QM 46 two-color presses, a five-color Speedmaster SM 52, a five-color Speedmaster SM 74, and a four-color Speedmaster SM 102. The company also offers a broad array of finishing services with the help of a Polar 137 EM paper cutter, B20 and B30 continuous-feed Stahlfolders, and a Stitchmaster ST 90 saddlestitcher.

The number one reason Gateway turns to Heidelberg for its equipment and software needs is reliable and ready service, said Sonia Garcia, Vice President of Printing. “Aside from having the best equipment in the world, Heidelberg technicians are incredible,” she said. “One even answered the phone while he was on vacation!”

Olympic Printing Ramps It Up with New Installs from Heidelberg

Olympic Printing in Norcross, GA, recently replaced an aging thermal platesetter with a Suprasetter manual top-loading A75 CtP device. Like the older unit, the new Suprasetter anchors the company’s automated Prinect Prepress Manager workflow. The installation was necessary, said company president David Gale, to enable Olympic to prepare the larger plates it would be running on its newly acquired, Certified Remanufactured Speedmaster CD 74 five-color press. According to Gale, the Suprasetter and the Speedmaster CD 74, with its larger sheet size and ability to run thicker stocks, together will help the company develop a larger presence in metropolitan Atlanta’s growing market for POP/POS printing. Elsewhere in the shop, the company operates a pair of POLAR paper cutters and a Stahlfolder, in addition to a six-color MO press and a four-color GTO.

Twenty-eight-year-old Olympic Printing describes itself as a general commercial printer specializing in short- to medium-run length printing for a client list that ranges from Fortune 500 companies to local agencies. Employing a staff of 35 to produce everything from stationery to annual reports, the company has a long history of success in the Atlanta area. Its primary equipment supplier is Heidelberg, said Gale, simply because ”We and everybody else in the printing industry, equate the Heidelberg name with unassailable quality and reliability.”

Zoo Printing Adds New Stahlfolder KH-78 to Louisville Facility

Zoo Printing, a Web-to-print, gang-run, trade printing business based in Commerce, CA, reports the addition of a Stahlfolder KH-78 continuous-feed buckle-plate folder with cross-fold unit, feeder and stream delivery to its 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Louisville, KY. The new folder joins a raft of Heidelberg postpress equipment previously installed at the Louisville plant, including a pair of Polar 137 XT and two Polar 115 XT cutting systems, and a pair of USA B-20 and B-30 continuous-feed folders.

According to general manager Ark Andoun, the intelligent automation and optimized operation of the new folder greatly reduce the wear-and-tear on operators when handling 28x40-inch sheets and 8- to 12-page signatures typical of Zoo’s production output. Intuitive controls and a graphical user interface based on Heidelberg's proven symbols vastly simplify operation of the machines. Accessibility of the knife shafts also has been improved with a kit designed to raise them to an ergonomically advantageous working height. Noise hoods are easier to open, making buckle plates more accessible and enabling on-the-fly adjustments to the paper and the buckle-fold assemblies as required. The new KH-78 folder is deployed chiefly to the production of catalogs, calendars, and like items.

For Zoo Printing, which serves a clientele made up of graphic designers, print brokers, print shops and ad agencies nationwide, its longstanding relationship with Heidelberg has been essential to its success. Not only is Heidelberg equipment well-engineered and reliable, Andoun said, but “The service is also consistently terrific, and our training was thorough. We view Heidelberg as a true partner in our business.”

Source: Company press release.