HANOVER PARK, Ill. (January 2002) — There’s an old saying in the business world: "The customer is always right." It’s no different now, especially at Todd Allan Printing in Beltsville, Md., where customers wanted to see their printer go direct-to-plate — so they did. "We were getting pressure from some of our customers. They wanted to see us go direct-to-plate," reports Kenny Popp, director of prepress operations at Todd Allan. "It was important that we do this in order to remain competitive in the marketplace." So Popp and the owners at Todd Allan Printing decided to install both a Fujifilm FINALPROOF digital contract proofer and a Javelin thermal platesetter last year. Todd Allan was using a Fujifilm 3100 imagesetter. Although Popp said the imagesetter was a "workhorse" and supported a tremendous amount of work with a minimal number of service calls, he wanted to increase the amount of throughput as well as shorten the time for getting plates to the press. The Javelin has an output speed of 12 plates per hour at 2,400 dpi and seemed like the right solution, Popp says. Todd Allan Printing also installed the Fujifilm FINALPROOF for the shop’s digital proofing needs. "That’s probably the best product they’ve got," comments Popp. "We’ve had absolutely no problems with it." One of the built-in advantages to the Fujifilm FINALPROOF is its unique calibration system, which allows the proofer to hold its calibration for an extended time. "I’m amazed to say that we haven’t had to recalibrate it at all," admits Popp, whose shop has been using the FINALPROOF for nearly six months. "We’ve not done any recalibrations since we’ve had it, and that’s very impressive." Popp adds that he’s most impressed with FINALPROOF’s ability for color matching. "The amazing thing is the proof-to-press match," he says. "We can run a proof on our 3M rainbow or Fuji ColorArt systems and the FINALPROOF remarkably matches both. I think that’s pretty amazing. We haven’t produced a proof yet that we couldn’t match. The pressmen love it.