HANOVER PARK, Ill. – Tarco Printing recently completed its prepress department with the installation of a Saber Luxel P-9600 CTP photopolymer platesetter from Fujifilm Graphic Systems, a division of Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. Thanks to Fujifilm’s patented, award-winning acousto-optic deflector (AOD) laser technology, Saber is the world’s fastest platesetter in its class and is able to produce up to 27 eight-up plates per hour at 2,400 dpi in its two-beam configuration. Tarco Printing, a commercial printer in Itasca, Ill., installed the platesetter in January and uses it with two beams. "This is the first platesetter we’ve had and it’s been working out very well," noted Kim Doyle, digital prepress manager for Tarco Printing. "We were already going digital to film, so going digital to plate really made sense for a company of our size." Tarco and its 70 full-time employees boast annual sales of approximately $12 million. Doyle said Tarco chose the Fujifilm Saber visible light platesetter because it was easily integrated into their existing Rampage workflow. "The Saber, which uses LP-NS visible light plates, is very close to the SNS-R conventional plates that we were already using, so there wasn’t a need for any change in pressroom chemistry," he explained. "Another reason we liked the Saber was the autoloader. That was important to us because of the hands-free operation. We’re able to load it up and let it run." The AOD multi-beam imaging system that Saber utilizes recently won the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) InterTech Award for the development of innovative technology. When the multi-beam laser is combined with an internal drum configuration, the result is unprecedented imaging speed with no cost or quality penalty. 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. "We’ve had several customers increase their business with us because of the Saber," explained Doyle. "These were all customers that were supplying film and now they don’t have to go to the expense of imaging film. This allows them to eliminate an entire step in the process and keep everything under one roof, which saves them time and money." In addition to adding the Fujifilm Saber platesetter, Tarco Printing also added a Komori System 20, 6-color half-web 23" x 20" press, including in-line finishing, gluing, dye-cutting, perfing and sheeting.