Presstek, LLC, leading provider of eco-friendly printing solutions, today announced the installation of the Presstek 34DI Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) digital offset press at Abbotsgate Hull Ltd. Established in 1977 as a commercial print supplier to Hull & East Yorkshire businesses, Abbotsgate has grown to become a trusted full-service print provider across all of the UK.

"With the Presstek 34DI press we are producing print faster with no compromise on quality – we can now spread work over three areas; digital, DI digital offset and long-run conventional offset printing depending on the requested print run," said James Adkins, Managing Director of Abbotsgate. "The DI press produces high quality print far superior to our conventional presses in half the time with minimal operator intervention."

"We needed to bridge the gap between our digital machines and long-run conventional offset presses. Customer demands are for shorter print runs and quicker turnaround times," Adkins adds. "The Presstek DI is a compact 4-colour SRA3 press, which sits neatly in today’s market for 500-20,000 full-colour print runs."

Adkins concludes, "Having the ability to send a file directly to the press, image plates and be running the job in under 20 minutes was the major advantage of installing a DI press. Prepress now only involves impositioning the files and dropping them onto the RIP. Press Operator make-ready times have been cut in half offering a total time savings of over one hour per job. This not only allows us to take on more work, but it saves over £8000 on labor each year."

"When we first approached Abottsgate about the Presstek DI press, they were skeptical because in their words, 'we assumed it was another digital production machine that comes with a click charge and will be temperamental running light or heavy stocks'," said Simon Cosh, Presstek Europe sales manager digital printing systems. "However, after we conducted a DI press demo and put them in touch with another DI owner they recognized the difference between digital and DI digital offset printing. They were thrilled to find the solution for filling that all important gap between digital and conventional offset printing. We were pleased to help Abbotsgate meet their goals of producing faster, more cost-effective high-quality printing with the 34DI press."

The Presstek 34DI is a highly automated four-colour digital offset press ideally suited for fast turnaround, short-run, high-quality colour printing. Chemistry-free media is imaged directly on press in precise register going from digital file to printed sheet in under 10 minutes. The 34DI produces up to 7,000 SRA3 (13.39 x 18.11-inch) sheets per hour on a broad range of substrate thicknesses up to 20 pt. (0.06mm to 0.5mm), supports 300 lpi and FM screening and offers a low average cost per page for 500 to 20,000 impressions.

Covered under the same warranty, Presstek offers new and factory refurbished DI presses under its Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) program. Presstek’s comprehensive Certification Process has a skilled team of Presstek DI experts who recondition the press to the original specifications.