CHICAGO, IL -- One of the laments about the printing industry is the lack of new blood and the difficulty of attracting the younger generation, despite the proliferation of computers and equipment with digital capability that is now available. Tim Stewart is helping eliminate the stigma. New to the business when he purchased The Broomfield Printing Co. in Broomfield, Co two years ago, he's using technology to attract technology company business. The concept is working so well that he and his well-educated staff of six recently held a one year "birthday" party for their A.B.Dick DPM2340 direct-to-plate device. "I had no partiality to equipment so I was able to look at everything in black and white," said Stewart, who worked in materials manufacturing for 30 years before buying his shop. "I did some research on the DPM2340 and other manufacturers and bought the A.B.Dick equipment. The first two months, my two pressmen were on the fence about the polyester plates stretching. They were skeptical because they have 40 years experience with metals. Once we proved the plates were not stretching, the DPM2340 became very popular." The birthday party came about as a way of celebrating the shop's fortune. Stewart said the device has greatly impacted the company's bottom line. Business increased 12 percent in the first six months compared to the first half of 2000. While layoffs have impacted U.S. companies across the board, Broomfield's manufacturing market is very solid. The shop is located two miles from Superior, the fastest growing city in Colorado. "We learned our niche is built around the old standard I found in manufacturing with processes and invoices," said Stewart. "These companies make products and there is a per-ception that hi-tech companies use less paper. We found they have a lot of paper crossing their desks, so the bulk of our work is 2-color business forms, cards and NCR forms." Two of Stewart's four presses are A.B.Dick 9810 offset presses with T-heads. But the rising star of the shop is the DPM2340. One of the major reasons why Stewart went with the DPM2340 was to help grow his short-run 4-color segment, which now represents 28 percent of his business. "No matter how good a graphics department you have, having the flexibility to tap a designer on the shoulder and do a new plate in two minutes is great," said Stewart, who does 300 plates a month on the DPM2340. "The polyester plates save a lot of time, plus it reduces stripping costs. The DPM2340 saves us a full man day each week; that's eight hours of time which now goes elsewhere and makes us more profitable." Smart business practices are no accident at Broomfield Printing. One employee owns a Masters degree in commercial arts, two have a Bachelor of Arts and two others have techni-cal school experience. "Educated, long-term employees make a huge difference in our shop. It's important to keep the right people," said Stewart.