New Waterless Innovations from Imperial

PHOENIX—The people who created "Dryography" are at it again.

Imperial Litho & Dryography, based here, says it is the first printer in the United States to offer commercially available 300-line heatset web printing. They've dubbed the process WebElite.

"The debut of WebElite is in keeping with our commitment to constantly introduce innovative products to the marketplace, something we've continued to do over the past 39 years," declares Malcolm Marr, CEO.

Marr says Imperial developed WebElite by taking the prepress techniques it has advanced over the past five years of manufacturing 300- and 600-line Dryography and combining them with specialized ink, chemistry, blanket and roller configurations.

Dryography, a sheetfed process developed by Brian Fabiano, Imperial's executive vice president of sales and marketing, is a hybrid form of waterless printing that uses a combination of proprietary hardware and software to achieve higher ink densities.

WebElite, officials say, offers the same quality for web printing, transferring twice the ink to the sheet, compared to conventional heatset web printing, and offering 150-percent more resolution.

Imperial developed WebElite by making modifications to a gear-driven Heidelberg Web-8 heatset web press, and conducting two years of intensive testing.

"The craftsmen that worked on this project was unwavering in their commitment to leave no stone unturned in the search for the absolute best fidelity possible," enthuses Fabiano. "We are targeting the annual report market as well as automotive collateral and any type of corporate identity campaign that requires superior detail and color fidelity."

Fabiano says the WebElite process challenges the accepted belief that sheetfed printing is the best solution for high-quality printing work. He notes that high-end customers often choose to pay 30- to 50-percent more for sheetfed printing, in order to ensure a certain standard of quality.

"Those days are now over," Fabiano declares. "WebElite offers the entire nation a better quality alternative than the best sheetfed printing at 200-line screen."

What led Imperial to develop the concept? "Customer demand," replies Fabiano. "Our sheetfed presses are booked solid. And often you find that the work that demands the highest quality can also be high volume. We wanted a way to carry the superior quality of Dryography to the web."

The team at Imperial Litho & Dryography is led by Malcolm Marr (in front, standing), CEO and president, and Brian Fabiano, executive vice president of sales and marketing (behind and to the left of Marr).