Presstek at drupa 2008: DI® Digital Offset Presses Address Key Business Challenges

HUDSON, NH—January 15, 2008—Presstek, Inc., the leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing business solutions, today announced it would be featuring its environmentally friendly DI® digital offset presses, combined with Momentum Pro workflow, at drupa 2008 (Hall 04, Stand A55). The world’s largest printing trade show held every four years, drupa will begin May 29th, 2008, in Düsseldorf, Germany.

“Presstek has been advancing printing technologies for more than 20 years, and each drupa event enables us to present our latest innovations. It’s a perfect venue for demonstrating our range of products and showing how they can help today’s print businesses to become more capable, profitable and competitive,” said Klaus Schleicher, group product director, digital printing business unit of Presstek. “During this year’s show, we’ll be focusing on how Presstek’s digital offset print solutions deliver an exceptional level of flexibility, speed, quality and ease-of-use. Presstek has practical, cost-effective and environmentally friendly offerings that directly address the needs of printers who are faced with the daily reality of quickly producing a wide variety of short-run color work – and doing so profitably.”

Presstek 52DI and Presstek 34DI: Good for the Environment, Good for Business

Presstek’s DI presses offer chemistry-free platemaking, waterless printing and substantially less waste than conventional printing processes. A key advantage of DI is the ability to go from file to sellable color within 20 sheets. The Presstek DI’s ability to produce as few as 20 sheets of makeready waste per job is not only good for the environment it has a direct correlation to profitability, since PIA/GATF estimates that the cost of paper accounts for 22 percent of a printer’s sales revenues. In general, job profitability is 13 percent higher on a DI compared to a conventional press, and compared to a toner-based digital device, the DI press saves 50 percent on average per letter size page, according to research firm InfoTrends.

Highest Quality for Lowest Cost

PRIMIR World Wide Market for Print: Phase III Report reflects that the global print market demand for sheetfed printing will grow to a $133.7 billion opportunity by 2011. And InfoTrends market research forecasts that the retail value of the U.S. color print market will grow into a $43.2 billion opportunity by 2009. Frank Romano, professor emeritus at the School of Print Media at the Rochester Institute of Technology, said: “The DI is perfect for this opportunity, since 90 percent of the color business will be short-run, fast turnaround, high quality color, and 10 percent is variable data work. Most variable data work is really versioning, so for the highest quality at the lowest cost, print the shells with the DI and then overprint using a toner-based device.” High quality shells are not limited to printed sheets; they can also be letter-size envelopes using 52DI’s new stream feeder which can be easily adjusted to handle envelopes of the letter size.

Presstek 52DI digital offset press - This landscape digital offset press operates at up to 10,000 sheets per hour with a maximum print area of 510 x 360 mm (20.07 x 14.17 inches) per sheet; one of the largest print areas available in its class. The Presstek 52DI’s landscape orientation and 52cm design (520 x 375 mm or 20.47 x 14.76 inches sheet size) supports efficient sheet utilization and addresses a wide range of applications. The waterless technology of the 52DI press, in addition to the unique 2:1 roll out ratio of the ink train, provide the benefits of unparalleled ink coverage and the ability to print solids more easily. FM screening is supported without incurring additional time or expense.

Presstek 34DI digital offset press - A portrait format digital offset press, this model produces up to 7,000 sheets per hour with a maximum print area of 330 x 450 mm (12.99 x 17.72 inches) – will also be featured at the exhibition.

During drupa 2008 there will be live demonstrations of the Presstek 52DI and Presstek 34DI

The Presstek 52DI and 34DI presses offer both traditional offset and digital printers the most profitable solution for meeting the demand for quick turnaround, short-run high quality color printing. These highly automated sheetfed presses combine the efficiency of an all-digital workflow with the versatility and quality of a conventional offset press.

The 52DI and 34DI offer the following advantages:

• Capability

Broad range of substrate thickness up to 20pt. (0.06mm to 0.5mm), for a variety of applications such as printing on onion skin, heavy card stock, plastic, felt, foil, magnets, etc.

Maximum sheet size
52DI: 510 x 360 mm (20.47 x 14.76 inches) per sheet
34DI: 340 x 460 mm (13.39 x 18.11 inches) per sheet

Environmentally friendly

• Profitability

Lowest average cost per page for 250 to 10,000 impressions

Produce more jobs in less time

No click charges

• Productivity

Number of A4-sized pages per hour
52DI: up to 20,000 pages
34DI: up to 14,000 pages

Fastest path from digital file to sellable sheet – automated 10 minute makereadies; up to color in 20 sheets; quick changeovers

Easy color adjustments without remake of plates

Uptime reliability and lifetime durability

• Quality

Supports superior offset quality of 120 l/cm (300 lpi) and FM screening without additional time or cost

Zero Transfer Printing – four colors printed without sheet transfer

Superior and consistent sheet-to-sheet, job-to-job, day-to-day

Easy to print PMS colors and changeover – automatic press washup and ink key preset for switchback to 4-C printing

Presstek Momentum Pro

Building on its Momentum RIP, the new Presstek Momentum Pro Integrated PDF Workflow system is a fully-integrated RIP and workflow solution designed to streamline and automate the production process using certified PDF tools. The workflow can be used as a centralized PDF creation and preflight system, ensuring consistent output to multiple devices for small to mid-size printers.

“The new Momentum Pro workflow is a simple, easy-to-use and affordable solution that provides versatile job management with an easy user interface, streamlining the print production process,” said John Flynn, workflow marketing manager for Presstek. “The improved PDF capability of this addition to Presstek’s product portfolio gives printers the ability to control the workflow from the prepress workstation and increase productivity all in one flexible workflow solution.”

About Presstek
Presstek, Inc. is the leading manufacturer and marketer of high tech digital imaging solutions to the graphic arts and laser imaging markets. Presstek’s patented DI®, CTP and plate products provide a streamlined workflow in a chemistry-free environment, thereby reducing printing cycle time and lowering production costs. Presstek solutions are designed to make it easier for printers to cost effectively meet increasing customer demand for high-quality, shorter print runs and faster turnaround while providing improved profit margins. Presstek subsidiary, Lasertel, Inc., manufactures semiconductor laser diodes for Presstek’s and external customers’ applications.

For further information visit www.presstek.com, send an e-mail to info@presstek.com or call +44 20 8745 8000 (Europe) or +1 603 595 7000 (North America).