Printers Show Confidence with Investments in Heidelberg Solutions

KENNESAW, GA—June 8, 2012—Heidelberg has announced the following new digital printing, offset press and postpress product installations at Disc Pro Printing and Graphics, Allied Printing, All-Color Business Specialties and Central Printing:

Disc Pro Printing and Graphics Takes Business to a Higher Level with New Speedmaster CX 102

Disc Pro Printing and Graphics (Houston) met with most of the major press vendors before deciding on a new, UV-ready, six-color Speedmaster CX 102 press. “But Heidelberg impressed us most with the features and functions of the press,” said company president Dale Morris. “In terms of training and service too. Heidelberg trainers and technicians are all first-rate. We’re very happy, not only with the press, but also with Heidelberg as a supplier-partner.”

Five weeks and 2.5 million impressions into production with its new CX 102 press, Disc Pro can readily tick off the elements of its newfound competitive advantage: 75 percent faster makereadies; run speeds to 16,500 iph; dramatic reductions in material waste and man hours; zero overtime. In fact, said Morris, the new CX 102 already produces as much or more than Disc Pro Printing and Graphics’ existing 40˝ and 28˝ presses combined.

Because the company contemplates moving to mixed-UV printing down the road, its easy convertibility to UV mode was a major factor in Disc Pro Printing and Graphics’ decision to purchase the CX 102. Other decisive factors were user-friendly touchscreen controls, ink-sparing Inkline automatic ink feed, extended delivery, and press-side Axis Control color measurement system, which Morris credited with raising the confidence of customers and operators alike.

“Axis Control is a wonderful capability,” Morris said. “It enables us to print by the numbers, alerts us when something is wrong, or confirms we’re doing everything right.”

Disc Pro Printing and Graphics’ CX 102 also came equipped with aqueous coater and POLAR skid turner.

Established in 1999 and with steadily increasing annual sales, Disc Pro Printing and Graphics has become one of the largest, independently owned printing companies in the Houston area. The company, which operates a 22,000-square-foot facility in Houston with a staff of 50, prints marketing collateral, forms and promotional products for end-users here and abroad, including Fortune 500 companies and major advertising agencies.

Allied Printing Takes on High-Value Boutique Packaging with KAMA ProFold 74 Finishing Folder-Gluer

Allied Printing in Ferndale, MI, recently purchased a new KAMA ProFold 74 multi-functional finishing folder-gluer to advance its plans to expand into high-value, short-run, boutique packaging. As a first step in that direction, the company installed a Heidelberg Varimatrix diecutter last year.

“We were doing our own die cutting but still outsourcing the finishing,” said Vice President of Operations Tony Pelc. “As we continue to build our book of business, we are keenly focused both on maintaining quality control over the products we produce, as well as on achieving quicker time to market without relying on third party sources. With both the Varimatrix and the new KAMA ProFold in place, we can seize the opportunity to participate in the boutique packaging market, and to do so profitably.”

As a testament to the KAMA ProFold’s simplicity and ease-of use, Pelc explained that after two of Allied’s operators spent only four days in training at Heidelberg’s Technology Center in Kennesaw, GA, they were so well-versed in running the machine that no additional on-site training was required after installation.

“They took to the machine immediately,” he said, including mastery of a variety of options, including capacity folding, pocket folding, and turning devices; a hotmelt and fugitive glue application system; adhesive tape dispenser; and pick-and place attachment. Among the products for which Allied uses the KAMA ProFold are pocket folders, crash-lock boxes, CD and DVD pockets, and specialty mailing envelopes.

“We love the KAMA ProFold 74 for its versatility,” Pelc said, “especially its card-inserting capability, which lets us affix cards or magnets to pocket folders, for example.”

Compact, touchscreen-controlled, and capable of a wide range of standard and high-value applications, the KAMA ProFold 74 features a unique, grid-type mounting system that enables the tools required for the actual job to be positioned in any order quickly and precisely, ensuring short set-up times, quick changeovers from one job to the next, ensuring higher profitability on short runs. Standard features include large plough-folding device, flap plough-folding device, tipper fold plate and pressure rollers.

Allied currently runs the KAMA ProFold 74 roughly three-quarters of a shift per day, seven days a week, although the company expects that growing volume and customer demand soon will increase its utilization. According to Pelc, Allied is on track to rack up annual sales of $18 million this year, a figure representing a 17 percent increase over last year’s numbers.

With 84 employees deployed across a five-building campus, the company provides commercial offset and digital printing, as well as information management, mailing, e-commerce, and warehouse and fulfillment services to a primarily regional but increasingly national clientele.

All-Color Locks in “Huge Competitive Advantage” with Stitchmaster ST 100

“It doesn’t go on the floor unless it’s a Heidelberg,” declared All-Color Business Specialties owner Billy Bogue.

That said, the Farmingdale, NY-based trade printer advanced a companywide equipment upgrade recently with the installation of a Stitchmaster ST 100 saddlestitcher from Heidelberg. The company also installed a TH 66 Stahlfolder nine months ago, and recently signed an order for a Speedmaster XL 75 5-color press, to be delivered at the end of the year.

“The new stitcher offers new electronics, more sensors, more automation, and twice the productivity of our previous stitcher,” Bogue said. “That gives us a huge competitive advantage in our marketplace.”

The ST 100 outputs up to 9,000 copies per hour, incorporates six pockets with cover feeder, single hand-feed station, conveyor table with batch marker, and waste removal belt.

Established in 1959, All-Color Business Specialties is an $8 million printer to the trade, serving clients throughout Long Island and the New York metropolitan area. The all-Heidelberg shop currently operates no fewer than nine Heidelberg presses, ranging from a Speedmaster 74 4-color model, to a pair of Speedmaster SM 52 and six Printmaster QM 46-2s. The ST 100 saddlestitcher is the latest addition to the company’s full-service bindery, which also contains two POLAR cutters and three Stahlfolders.

Central Printing Adds Ricoh Pro C901 with Color Management by Heidelberg

Central Printing in Beckley, WV, reports the installation of a Heidelberg-supplied Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition digital press. Founded more than 40 years ago, Central has evolved from a one-color shop into a full-color, full-service commercial printing business that now offers a broad range of services from offset and digital printing to graphic design and mailing. The new press—the company’s first digital machine—is the latest in a long line of Heidelberg-manufactured and Heidelberg-supplied solutions that have been company mainstays for many years.

“Central enjoys a significant competitive advantage as the first company within a 100-mile radius of Beckley to offer sophisticated digital printing services at this level,” said company president Rick Fazio, adding that the new press already has generated significant additional work from existing and walk-in customers.

Moreover, “Thanks to color management via Heidelberg’s Prinect Color Toolbox,” he continued, “the new press enables us to produce awesome color quality with much lower waste, and we now save the money we used to spend outsourcing digital projects.”

The longtime Heidelberg user also operates a number of Heidelberg presses, including a 5-color Speedmaster SM 74, two Printmaster QM 46-2s, USA B20 and B26 Stahlfolders, an ST 90 saddlestitcher, and a pair of 36” POLAR cutters. A Suprasetter A75 platesetter with Prinect prepress workflow is the linchpin of Central’s prepress department, and the company relies on Heidelberg Saphira consumables, including Chemfree plates, along with inks, blankets and pressroom chemistry.

Established in 1976, third-generation family owned and operated Central Printing posts $2 million in annual sales and a workforce of 16.

Source: Heidelberg.