CHICAGO, IL - Professional sports teams have talked about it for years, how the home team’s cheering fans positively affect the outcome of a game by acting like an extra man. In the printing industry, some smaller operations are experiencing a similar advantage. Tony Colasanto of Docuprint & Imaging attributes his extra man to automation. A believer in creativity, he also values innovation. His edge comes from the DPM2340 digital platemaker with ScanMaster, and the fully loaded 9995A-ICS (with Ink Volume Setter) offset press he bought from A.B.Dick in early 2002. Colasanto should know. As president he opened Docuprint & Imaging in 1972 and has carefully guided the full service print shop in New Haven, Connecticut. Colasanto first made inroads in the digital world in 1996 when he purchased A.B.Dick’s award-winning Digital PlateMaster 2000. Having survived the economic doldrums in the wake of 9-11, Colasanto moved ahead with an improvement plan. “We had A.B.Dick’s DPM2000 for six years and never had a problem with it. That’s why we bought the DPM2340 with the 9995A-ICS press,” said Colasanto. “It was time to upgrade the shop and we wanted to do more 4-color work with polyester plates. The auto-mation on this equipment was a real selling point. It helps people like me with less experienced staffs be more successful.” In Colasanto’s case, the automated equipment helped the shop through a rough period. His most experienced pressman had died and although the bulk of Docuprint’s was 2-color, orders for 4-color jobs kept increasing. “This equipment saves me time and money in a number of ways because it is very easy to operate,” said Colasanto, who employs 12. “The DPM2340 is very accurate and our make-ready time has been greatly reduced. We use 8-mil polyester plates on the DPM2340 and we’ve had no stretching problems.” Colasanto said his shop (www.docuprintandimaging.com) handles everything from business cards and stationery to big color posters and brochures for a mostly local business base of small companies, colleges and agencies. One area he is starting to find greater profit in is 4-color newsletters. “With the ScanMaster system on the DPM2340, I can digitally scan original artwork in minutes that used to take me hours to complete. Making plates is much faster and easier to do now. “I like the flexibility of the 9995A-ICS press,” continued Colasanto. “One of the best benefits is the Ink Volume Setter software package we had installed for the 4-color work. Punch a couple of buttons and it automatically has the DPM2340 send ink density settings directly to the press. We do all of this from the console and it makes us more productive. With the semi-automatic plate changer making the process faster to load and unload plates, and the plate puncher assuring accuracy, we have an entire package that works for us.” A.B.Dick Company is a leading worldwide supplier to the graphic arts and printing industry, manufacturing and marketing equipment and supplies for all stages of document creation -- prepress, press and post-press -- as well as continuing service and support. For more information contact Scott MacKenzie, Vice President, Marketing, 7400 Caldwell Ave., Niles, IL. 60714. Telephone (847) 779-1900, fax (847) 647-6940, Web: www.abdick.com.