James Litho Continues Investments in Heidelberg Digital and Workflow Integration

From left, Debbie Whisler, plant manager, and Kenny De Maio, digital & prepress specialist, both at James Litho.

In 2014, James Litho, a small commercial printing company in Ontario, Calif., became one of the earliest adopters of Heidelberg’s digital print platforms when it decided to invest in a Linoprint C901. After six successful years and running upwards of 300,000-400,000 digital sheets per month, James Litho has recently installed its third digital press from Heidelberg, a Versafire EP, replacing its older C901 and complementing its current Versafire CP.

Integration: The Key to Success

James Litho services a diverse portfolio of customers in the Southern California market -- from retail/supermarkets, to local manufacturers, municipalities, and universities. While having a broad customer base has helped James Litho’s business stay steady during the COVID-19 downturn, it also means having a dynamic range of customer demands. The Versafire EP, capable of printing materials from 35 lb. text to 24 pt. board and duplexing on sheets up to 13x27.5˝, provides the flexibility James Litho needs to address each of its customers’ individual needs. According to President Jeff James, “We have not come across any job that the Versafire is not able to run.”

While the diverse substrate range and high speeds of up to 135 letter pages per minute were important in James’s decision to purchase a Versafire EP, James cites two main factors for why he continues to invest in Heidelberg digital presses: cost effective operation and workflow integration with the company’s current Speedmaster SM 74 offset press.

James Litho, a long time Prinect user, recently upgraded its workflow to the subscription based Prinect Production Manager, which gives the company access to the full Prinect suite of products while also ensuring the software is always up-to-date with the latest releases. Integrated fully with Prinect workflow, both the Versafire EP and Versafire CP are controlled via the Prinect Digital Front End (DFE). Utilizing Heidelberg’s color management and renderers (both tried and tested in offset printing), the Prinect DFE enables print production to be automated and standardized for excellent efficiency.

“From imposition to color management, it’s great having the Prinect integration between our offset and digital platforms. It’s so efficient, in fact, that we don’t have any dedicated digital press operators. Because of the common workflow platform, our prepress technicians prepare our digital jobs from their prepress workstations and send the jobs to print. With our high capacity delivery, they just press a button and let the Versafires run,” said James.

Automating for the Future

A loyal Heidelberg customer – James Litho runs Stahlfolders and POLAR cutters in addition to the Versafires, Speedmaster, and Prinect workflow and also recently signed for Prinect Business Manager MIS. While James Litho has looked to Heidelberg as a partner for the past 20+ years, it’s Heidelberg’s plans for the future that keeps James Litho continuing to invest in Heidelberg solutions.

“I think it’s an industry-wide issue that we are going to lose many technically skilled operators in printing in the very near future. Heidelberg has been thinking about this for years and is really the only company that’s developed all of their products with user-friendliness and automation in mind. From press, to postpress, to prepress – everything from estimating to job tickets – it’s just a complete system,” said James.

As James Litho looks to expand its business into 40” offset in the near future, its goal is to have complete automation throughout every part of its shop. “We know that with Heidelberg’s technology, having automated systems is what’s going to keep us successful and viable moving forward,” said James.

Source: Heidelberg