HUDSON, N.H., Oct. 12 -- Presstek, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of environmentally responsible digital offset printing business solutions for the graphic arts markets, today announced that Murray Print Shop in St. Louis, MO, is the first print service provider in North America to install a Presstek 52DI press. The Presstek 52DI, first demonstrated in Birmingham, UK during IPEX in April of this year, will be making its North American debut at Graph Expo, North America's largest printing trade show, being held at McCormick Place, Chicago October 15-18, 2006. Presstek will be demonstrating the 52DI, DirectPress DI and its complete line of chemistry-free CTP solutions in booth #3822. "Like most printers today, we are faced with an increasing demand for four-color printing with shorter runs and faster turnaround times," said Tim Alton, president of Murray Printing, a third-generation, family owned printing business. "We installed our first DI press in 2004 to accommodate this need and immediately realized the benefits. Our business has grown to the point where the decision to upgrade to the Presstek 52DI was an easy one. Its larger format size and increased throughput allows us to produce even more printing projects per day, while keeping up with the exacting demands of our customers. It is the ideal complement to our two-color and digital toner-based presses." "We are excited about what the 52DI can do for Murray Print Shop and for the industry," said Ed Marino, Presstek's president and CEO. "Leading print service providers like Murray Print Shop are listening to their customers and implementing solutions that meet today's mainstream market needs for high quality, fast turnaround, short run color work. We believe that the 52DI is going to bring the breakthrough levels of productivity and profitability that printers like Murray Print Shop are looking for today. The 52DI is more than another great technology; it offers a vital solution for the business needs of today's print service provider for main stream short-run quality color at a profitable price point. It is a tool that can be used to expand the business opportunity for print service providers and the quality of service they offer their customers." The Presstek 52DI is a highly automated 52cm landscape sheetfed four-color digital offset printing press that combines the efficiency of an all-digital workflow with the versatility and quality of a conventional waterless press. The prepress file can be sent directly to the DI where the entire plate handling process is totally automatic -- all four plates are imaged on-press in precise registration. This eliminates manual intervention such as the loading or unloading of plates between jobs, while reducing steps and potential errors. The 52DI also features Presstek's unique Zero Transfer Printing (ZTP) process in which all four colors are laid down on the sheet without any transfer between grippers, whereas a conventional press requires tower-to-tower sheet transfer which challenges registration and restricts substrate choices. Eliminating sheet transfer delivers first sheet registration and results in an unsurpassed level of sheet-to-sheet and job-to-job consistency and repeatability. In addition, it expands the available range of printing media -- including 20 pt. stock, styrene, converted envelopes and pocket folders. Geoff Loftus, General Manager of Presstek's Press Business stated, "Presstek's customers consistently demonstrate that they are able to streamline throughput, broaden their capabilities, and increase the profitability of their business by investing in a DI press; Murray Print Shop is a perfect example of this success. DI printers are now able to compete in new segments of the market by delivering best in class print quality in the 52cm format with a level of process automation that conventional workflows cannot touch." Loftus added, "We at Presstek are thrilled to have Murray Printing as the first North American user of the 52DI, and we look forward to supporting their continued top and bottom line growth." The Presstek 52DI press is supported by Presstek's world-class field service, including both predictive and preventative maintenance designed to ensure maximum reliability and uptime. The 52DI is the ideal solution for digital printers, commercial printers, and smaller printers using two-color presses who wish to cost-effectively produce short-run four-color work in runs of 250 to 20,000. With the increasing market demand for high-quality short-run color, the Presstek 52DI press enables printers like Murray Print Shop to capitalize on a growth market, increasing the volume of business from existing customers as well as positioning them to acquire new customers who are seeking these differentiated services. Personal demonstrations of the Presstek 52DI press at Graph Expo can be scheduled by visiting http://www.Presstek.com/events. For more information visit http://www.presstek.com, email: [email protected], or call 603-595-7000 in North America.