HANOVER PARK, Ill. Warson Graphics, a commercial sheetfed printer located in suburban St. Louis, recently made a bold and swift move to an all-digital workflow with the installation of the first Fujifilm Saber visible light platesetter and a FINALPROOF digital contract proofer. As the speed of business continues to increase, Warson Graphics is committed to not just keeping up, but staying ahead, and they looked to Fujifilm for the answer and the technology. Operating two imagesetters prior to installing the Saber platesetter, Warson Graphics operations manager Dave Sperry said speed became a major consideration. "We decided to go with a platesetter because of the speed and quality of going direct-to-plate. We also wanted to reduce makeready time on press, eliminate film costs and the time it took to produce film and conventional proofs," he explained. "We were just looking for a faster more efficient way of turning jobs around and also improve the print quality at the same time." In choosing the Saber visible light platesetter, Warson Graphics got the world’s fastest platesetter in its class. Thanks to Fujifilm’s patented, award-winning acousto-optic deflector (AOD) laser technology, Saber is able to produce up to 27 eight-up plates per hour at 2,400 dpi in its two-beam configuration. In addition, Saber offers the most flexible format size in its class and has a larger maximum image area (44.5" x 35.4") than any other eight-up platesetter. To complete the switch to digital, Sperry’s shop also installed Fujifilm’s FINALPROOF digital contract proofer. Before that, customers were accustomed to seeing traditional proofs made with Fujifilm Color-Art. But, because the FINALPROOF is based on Color-Art standards and because both products are SWOP-certified, Sperry says the transition has been relatively easy. "Customers haven’t had much trouble getting used to looking at digital proofs rather than the traditional analog proofs," he notes. "Other than being cleaner and sharper most people wouldn’t know they were looking at a digital proof."