Heidelberg Solutions Help Installs Keep Their Businesses Humming

Image Pressworks Takes A Shine to the Speedmaster XL 105

To accommodate growth in volume and facilitate customer needs, Image Pressworks, Inc., Portland, Ore. installed a 5-color Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 late last year. Since then, the company has had ample opportunity to experience a handsome return on its investment in terms of both the quality and consistency of its printing. “The XL 105 had the larger format, unmatched quality and consistency, the ability to accommodate longer runs at faster speeds — everything we needed to provide our customers with top-quality printing. In fact, said Production Manager Chris Chase, “The further we push the XL 105, the better it performs. A lot of presses aren’t built to run at 18,000 sph, but the XL 105 lives up to its advance billing. That means we can live up to ours and be the perfectionists our customers expect us to be.”

Image Pressworks, which also operates a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74, has taken some pains, “to get both of our Heidelberg presses on the same page,” Chase explained, upgrading the CD 74 with Prinect Axis Control to achieve closed-loop color control and quality assurance comparable to the XL 105. A Suprasetter 105 computer-to-plate system with Prinect workflow, installed along with the XL 105, provides efficient, reliable plate production with no degradation of quality when different components of the same job, e.g., text and covers, are run on different presses. Heidelberg Saphira aluminum thermal plates and assorted Saphira pressroom consumables provide even greater consistency and high-quality performance.

Although the company describes itself as a general commercial printer, Image Pressworks actually “dabbles in everything,” Chase said, including pharmaceutical printing and folding. Its extensive bindery includes a 36” POLAR 115 cutter, 29” KAMA die cutter, Stitchmaster ST 90 8-pocket saddlestitcher with cover feeder, as well as a pair of Stahlfolder Ti 36 pharmaceutical folders. “We feel strongly that the more we can do in-house, the better service we can offer our customers,” Chase said. “That ‘one phone call’ philosophy is also one of the reasons we partner up with Heidelberg. With Systemservice36 on the new XL and web-based remote service on the CD, expert technical help is always and immediately available to us, as is fast, knowledgeable on-site service when we need it.”

Thirty-year-old Image Pressworks serves a Pacific Northwest regional clientele. The company employs a staff of 30.

For more about the versatile, high-performance Speedmaster XL 105: http://www.us.heidelberg.com/www/html/en/content/products/sheetfed_offset/70x100/speedmaster_xl_105,overview
To learn more about the Suprasetter 105: http://www.us.heidelberg.com/www/html/en/content/products/prepress/suprasetter/suprasetter_75_a105_105,overview

HM Graphics Stays Ahead of the Pack with Heidelberg

Forty-year-old Milwaukee-based HM Graphics, Inc. recently replaced a 16-year-old UV double-coating machine with a new Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 102 convertible UV press. The company, whose reputation for quality and comprehensive service is well-established, installed the first 40” UV double coating press in the U.S. in 1992, and has been building its UV expertise into a formidable specialty ever since. The company gets an able assist from a powerful pressroom lineup that also includes a pair of Heidelberg 6-color Speedmaster SM 102 single coaters with in-line aqueous, a 2-color Heidelberg TOK and two Heidelberg Printmaster QM 46 2-color presses.

“Whenever we replace a press, we look to get our money back within four years,” said company president Jim Sandstrom. He explains that this calculation is based on productivity gains the company achieves with the new press and the fact that “our last two installations have exceeded these expectations.” That said, the new Speedmaster CD 102 “is at least 50 percent more productive as the older machine, enabling us to be more competitive in this soft market. The print quality also is significantly better,” Sandstrom said. He also praises the CD 102’s faster makereadies and ability to change over quickly from conventional to UV operation.

Family owned and managed since 1969, and with 200 employees, HM Graphics serves a national client base of Fortune 500 companies, global advertising agencies and other businesses large and small “with a passion for perfection.” The company performs all prepress, printing, postpress/finishing and direct mail, warehousing and fulfillment functions in-house under strict quality control conditions. “With Heidelberg, we know we’re getting an exceptionally reliable machine that prints beautifully and wears well, year in and year out,” Sandstrom said. “Heidelberg sets the industry standard for excellence.”

For a profile of the Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 102: http://www.us.heidelberg.com/www/html/en/content/products/sheetfed_offset/70x100/speedmaster_sm_102,overview?resetBreadCrumbs=true

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