KENNESAW, Ga. – March 27, 2008 – Modern Litho Print Co., Jefferson City, Mo., is a general commercial printer with a specialty niche in publication and directory work. Late last year, the company installed a 5-color Speedmaster XL 105 press with aqueous coater to handle an increased workload and add additional capacity for future growth. Heidelberg equipped the new press with Image Control, Instant Gate, DryStar Advanced and Prepress Interface, and the installation boasts the first CAN (Controller Area Network) operated CutStar peripheral in North America.

"Fortunately, our business has grown sufficiently to keep the new press running around the clock, six days a week," says Assistant Plant Superintendent Jim Tomblinson. "We run all our quality work - heavy coverages, difficult substrates, anything with quality issues - on that press. The XL 105 has raised the standard of quality in our shop significantly. It also produces more work faster, thanks to quicker makereadies and lower waste. The crews who work on this press are running three shifts instead of two, so it has opened up plenty of production capacity. All of our pressmen love to run it."

Among the features Tomblinson likes best about the XL 105 are the built-in color control and pre-inking capability. "Color bars and densitometers are great and have their place, but the ability to pre-ink quickly and accurately without manual adjustment is critical. We run 200-line screens day in and day out on coated or uncoated stock, and with heavy or light ink coverage. The XL 105 eats it up. We definitely enjoy printing with this press."

The new XL 105 joins a semi-automated, 6-color Speedmaster 102 and a pair of 4-color 40" Speedmaster perfectors for 1/1 and 2/2 perfecting jobs. In the bindery, a fully automated POLAR 137 XT cutter and Stahlfolder RFH-82 folder round out Modern Litho's Heidelberg lineup. A Heidelberg customer for at least 25 years, Modern Litho sticks with what works, and its relationship with Heidelberg does exactly that. "We want a partner that will respond and react quickly when there is a need," Tomblinson says, "That's why we partner with Heidelberg."

Venerable Pittsburgh Shop Installs Speedmaster XL 105 from Heidelberg
Reed & Witting Company, a printer serving the Pittsburgh, Pa. area for more than 100 years, recently added a 6-color Speedmaster XL 105 press with coater from Heidelberg to its pressroom. The fast 18,000 impressions-per-hour speed and Heidelberg's reputation were the primary factors in making the decision to go with the XL 105, according to company President Ed Cyphers.

"The biggest selling point for me was the fact that I'd been to several demos and seen first-hand what the XL 105 could do," Cyphers said. "The machine impressed me, and now that we've installed it, the XL 105 has lived up to everything I saw in the past," said Cyphers, who added that as part of the decision-making process, he talked to other printers who had installed the XL 105 in their shops and were very pleased with the press' performance.

Founded in 1900 by a printer, an engraver and a book binder, Reed & Witting now employs 38 and specializes in POP and POS printing for customers nationwide. The shop prints on a variety of substrates and generally runs its new XL 105 at full speed. "The productivity improvement has been tremendous," Cyphers said. "We can get more done in a day than we ever did before." In addition to the XL 105, Reed & Witting also runs 4-color Speedmaster SM 102 with perfector from Heidelberg.