Viridiam Strengthens Digital Offerings with New Versafire LV

Viridiam, a full-service print provider in Green Bay, WI, recently purchased a new Versafire LV from HEIDELBERG. The new five-color Versafire further expands the company’s digital print opportunities by offering customers spot colors and extended gamut printing. The new engine will also aid Viridiam in growing its digital print business that began five years ago with the installation of its first Versafire.

A proud woman-owned business, Viridiam began in 2015 with the merger of two companies: HC Miller and Van Lanen. Both businesses were fixtures in the Green Bay community with roots dating back to 1887. Today, Viridiam serves a nationwide client base and prides itself on developing comprehensive solutions while focusing on a “speed to market” business model. The G7 certified company boasts four divisions “all under one roof”: commercial print, wide format, folding carton, and organizational products (medical charts, dividers, etc.). “By keeping everything in house, we can really economize a print buyer’s spend,” said President Nick Mares. “Additionally, we can save our customers a considerable amount of time by not having to deal with a variety of printers.”

Despite such a wide array of solutions, Viridiam was lacking a true digital print offering. According to Mares, “We started examining what we wanted to offer the marketplace and realized what we had on the digital side was extremely lacking. We wanted to grow that business and to do that, we needed a better partner.” In 2018, the company, which is equipped with two Speedmaster presses, installed a Versafire EV for more efficient and economical short runs.

While Viridiam initially turned to HEIDELBERG due to its existing relationship, Mares’s team was also attracted to HEIDELBERG’s “fair and equitable” price and service model and the machine’s outstanding print quality. “When you tell people you’re focused on speed to market, there’s a misnomer that you sacrifice quality to get products out quickly,” said Mares, “but we have worked hard for our G7 certification and ‘hang our hat’ on the quality of our work.”

Most of the jobs Viridiam produces on its Versafire are short run book and commercial work, but about 20% are prototypes, where the company produces small batches of packages that will later be run on its offset presses. The quality and consistency of the Versafire is essential in these cases when prints between technologies will later be compared against each other. According to Mares, “We’re very happy with what the Versafire produces. We consistently do match-ups between it and our Speedmasters where the color readings are within Delta E of < 2 of each other.”

Pleased with the quality and business growth it experienced with the EV, Viridiam decided to replace it with HEIDELBERG’s latest model, the Versafire LV, at the end of its lease term. The new five-color Versafire will be an upgrade in capabilities and gives Viridiam the flexibility to print with a variety of spot colors including white, clear, neons, and metallics. “We want to stay up to date with technology and look to future possibilities,” said Mares. “We don’t want our customers coming to us with an idea that we can’t execute.”

The Versafire LV is also a step up from the company’s previous model regarding stock size and variety. With the new LV, Viridiam will be able to print up to 24 pt. board in addition to longer sheets and a variety of synthetic materials. According to Mares, “On the digital side, we’re gaining capabilities we didn’t have before regarding stock caliper, sheet size, and run speeds. This is really going to help with our scheduling between offset and digital and further expedite our busy schedule.”

Run by its creative team, Viridiam’s Versafire is already set up for maximum efficiency. Thanks to the machine’s ease of use, the creative team can easily impose and RIP files to the Versafire and keep the feeders loaded with materials – enabling the prepress operators and press crews to focus on offset and wide format production. Viridiam’s team can easily access HEIDELBERG’s dedicated Digital Application Specialists via the Technical Helpdesk if an issue or question does arise.

Set to install in March, Mares said purchasing Viridiam’s newest Versafire, “was kind of a ‘no brainer’ – staying with the technology and quality that HEIDELBERG offers and what we want to offer the market.” When compared to other digital options in the market, he added, “HEIDELBERG isn’t out there just ‘rubber stamping’ their offerings to their customers. They know how to listen and how to fine tune their portfolio of products based on the specific needs of each printer versus just thinking that every printer is the same.”

Source: Heidelberg

The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.