Business Growth, Quest for Efficiency Lead Printers to Add Heidelberg Solutions

KENNESAW, GA—Dec. 1, 2010—Heidelberg has announced the following new product installations:

Eagle & Wheeler Positions Itself for Future Growth

Eagle & Wheeler Press is the product of a July 2010 merger between Eagle Press and Wheeler Press, both of Denton, TX. According to COO Kraig Springer, in the wake of the merger, “We grew 51 percent overnight, becoming the largest commercial printer in Denton County, and our volumes picked up immeasurably. We urgently needed another press to take care of the surplus.”

Thoroughly satisfied with the performance of its existing Printmaster QM 46-2 press from Heidelberg, the combined company quickly acquired another. “We already knew the QM 46 was an extremely reliable press—a good, steady producer with long duty cycles, consistent uptime, and the ability to deliver the speed and turn times our loyal customers demand. It is also easy to repair when necessary, with ready access to Heidelberg service and Heidelberg Original Replacement Parts. With the new press in place, we’re confident in our ability to service both existing and new customers, who appreciate the quality and convenience of our one-stop shop.”

Eagle & Wheeler produces a wide variety of printed materials on its QM 46 presses—“Everything from business cards to magazines to pressure-sensitive labels for packaging, you name it,” Springer said—which the company ships to customers in and around Denton, nationally, and as far away as Turkey. The growth-minded company currently employs a staff of 24 between its commercial printing and recently acquired mailing operations, and boasts annual sales revenue around $2.5 million.

Good things, small packages: Printmaster QM 46 .

“Boutique Printer” Texas Graphic Resource Installs Suprasetter A74

Texas Graphic Resource, Dallas, recently took delivery of a top-loading Suprasetter A74 with automation and debris removal system to anchor its prepress workflow. It is the first platesetter for the company. According to vice-president Jacques Cangelose, the installation amounts to replacing one technology for another, as the company prepares to transition from direct-imaging technology and “go live” with a standalone CtP device and Heidelberg Saphira processless thermal printing plates. The company’s prepress operators seem to be taking the transition in stride, especially the new Suprasetter’s ease of use and potential for unattended operation. Customers “should not notice any changes in the quality or timely delivery of their products,” Cangelose said.

To the contrary, Texas Graphic Resource is in the midst of standardizing its color processes across a range of devices that reflect the boutique printer’s highly diverse capabilities, which include offset, digital and screen printing, specialty packaging, display graphics, book-making, typesetting, detailed hand work and more. “We don’t live on the 8.5x11˝ cut sheet,” Cangelose said, citing the exacting, mostly very short run work his company performs for high-end agencies all over the U.S. and across the world. One recent job, for example, required the company to build 200 wood-and-metal presentation boxes with offset collateral, exterior screen printing, with a leather-bound book—designed and made from scratch—tucked inside.

Established as a hot typesetting company in 1907, family owned Texas Graphic Resource, Inc. acquired its first offset press as recently as 2000. With a staff of 23, the family run company takes a “very hands-on,” approach to its business, Cangelose said, with a collaborative style that often brings ad agencies into the shop for two or three press checks before a job is finished. Elsewhere in the shop, the company also operates a Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 74 press, a POLAR cutter, and a scoring and folding machine from Heidelberg/Stahl.

Suprasetter A74 : The most compact, successful platesetter in the medium-format class.

Grunwald Printing Picks Up Speed and Cutting Accuracy with New POLAR 115 X

Grunwald Printing in Corpus Christi, TX, reports the addition of a high-speed, programmable Polar 115 X cutter with 15˝ color display and touchscreen operation to its finishing department. The new 45” cutter replaces a 1974 Polar guillotine, which was subsequently deployed to the company’s receiving area. The new Polar 115 X yields benefits including faster cutting speed, label and distortion correction, and Polar OptiKnife knife changing with operator guidance. Productivity is up by more than 20 percent, according to CEO John Grunwald.

The company, which acquired its first Heidelberg presses in the 1960s, today boasts an all-Heidelberg pressroom lineup, including a 5-color Speedmaster CD 102 with coater, a 2-color Speedmaster SM 102 perfector, a 4-color Speedmaster SM 52 with coater, a single-color, 20” Heidelberg KORD, and a Printmaster QM 46-2, in addition to assorted Heidelberg Windmill and cylinder letterpress equipment, all of it still in use. Grunwald also makes use of assorted Saphira pressroom consumables, including Perfect Dot blankets. It also relies on Heidelberg Original Replacement Parts.

Grunwald Printing Co. was founded in 1954 by Rudy and Clifton Grunwald with a hand-operated printing press. Today, third-generation CEO John Grunwald directs a full-service commercial printing operation with a staff of 35, capable of meeting the demands of graphic designers, ad agencies, corporations and trade clients, most located within 150 miles of Corpus Christi. The company offers high-quality sheetfed and digital printing, finishing, as well as a host of prepress, graphics and mailing services.

Unbeatable for short set-up and high output: POLAR 115 X .

Hatteras Shares Dedication to Quality and Service with Heidelberg

Hatteras, Tinton Falls, NJ, reports the installation of a Stahlfolder USA B30 6/4/4 folder to expand its folding capacity and ensure greater throughput for its bindery. The new machine joins a pair of identical Stahlfolders already installed at Hatteras, alongside three Polar cutters, a Stitchmaster ST 450 saddlestitcher, four smaller Stahlfolders and a Heidelberg mini-folder. This busy commercial printer also operates an extensive suite of Heidelberg equipment, including a 6-color Speedmaster XL 105, a 6-color Speedmaster CD 102, 2- color and 6-color Speedmaster SM 102 perfectors, a 5-color Speedmaster SM 52, and a Printmaster QM 46-2.

“Great minds think alike,” said Tom Imfeld, Hatteras’ Vice President of Manufacturing. “It is our outstanding customer service that keeps our clients coming back, and the same can be said for our relationship with Heidelberg. Their equipment is state-of-the art, but it’s their commitment to service that really distinguishes them. We’ve been satisfied customers for many years, and expect to remain so.”

Hatteras is an integrated communications company with expertise spanning conventional printing; binding and finishing; mailing, fulfillment and distribution; one-to-one marketing; and a full line of digital media capabilities. Its client base is made up chiefly of major pharmaceutical, financial, communications and retail organizations throughout the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. Hatteras was founded in 1983 and employs 250 at its manufacturing facility in Tinton Falls and two nearby warehouse and fulfillment operations.

Economical, flexible, U.S.-made: Stahlfolder USA B30 .

Prosetter P52 Eases Transition to CtP for Universal Graphics

Universal Graphics, a general commercial printer in El Paso, TX, has made a seamless transition from a film-based to a direct-to-plate workflow anchored by a Heidelberg Prosetter violet platesetter with MetaDimension RIP.

“The new platesetter helps production run faster and more smoothly, our quality is better, and our turnaround times have improved significantly. The difference is like night from day,” said company president Lidia Lespron, who further reports that Universal’s operators are making the transition “without a problem.” The company also uses premium Heidelberg Saphira violet plates.

Lespron co-founded Universal Graphics 22 years ago with her husband, Gilbert, vice president. The all-Heidelberg shop boasts a lineup of small-format Heidelberg presses, including a 5-color Printmaster GTO, 2-color Printmaster GTO, and a pair of Printmaster QM 46 2-color presses. The company’s bindery houses a Polar 78 ED cutter and a Stahlfolder T-36 folder with right-angle attachment.

The minority woman-owned business provides a wide range of products and services to a regional clientele based in and around El Paso. Capabilities range from offset and digital printing to mailing and fulfillment. Annual sales revenues are in the $1 million range.

Lespron and her husband prize the quality and dependability of their Heidelberg equipment, citing “negligible downtime” and regular preventive maintenance that keeps the enterprise up and running to meet customer demand. The company employs a staff of 10.

Prosetter P52 : Gateway to automated CtP production.