HANOVER PARK, Ill., December 2002 – Since the installation of Fujifilm’s Saber Luxel Vx-9600 violet laser device, productivity at Woodridge, Ill.-based J.J. Collins Printers has increased, giving the staff more time to prepare for the company’s 125th anniversary, says Jim Collins, president. "We became interested in the Saber two years ago," explains Collins. "We have numerous press sizes and cutoffs and a lot of CTP machines are only capable of a few sizes. Fujifilm informed us that the Saber was being modified to better suit our needs and we waited until that became a reality." Collins adds that since the Saber was installed in mid-September, the company has seen substantial increases in productivity with minimal transitional time for the staff. "We are seeing better results, quicker makereadies and an overall better product for our customers," Collins notes, adding that the family-owned business is a total Fuji shop. "We are a Fuji shop currently using Fuji plates and chemistry and have a digital front end consisting of the PictroProof and the FINALPROOF, and had been interested in computer-to- plate for quite some time." "The learning curve has been minimal," says Dawn Kossak, prepress manager. The company is about 80 percent CTP and the prepress department has eliminated outputting film. We can do about four plates in 20 minutes instead of one plate in 15 minutes," she states. "The Saber is a production saver." Collins says the company, with about 145 employees in two locations, specializes in a wide variety of commercial and custom forms printing for major customers nationally. He adds, "We are a family-owned business and next year will be 125 years for us. We’re in the planning stages for our anniversary celebration and we’re looking forward to it!" Headquartered in Hanover Park, Ill., the Graphic Systems Division of Fuji Photo Film U.S.A., Inc. offers a full array of high-quality products and services including: Saber, the world’s fastest platesetter in its class; Dart and the Javelin Series, cost-effective thermal platesetters; Sumo, the world’s fastest imagesetter; the Brillia line of thermal and visible light digital plates; FINALPROOF, a digital halftone dot contract proofing product; PictroProof, a dye-based digital color proofing system; and Quattro, the award-winning flatbed color scanner with ColourKit color management software. Fujifilm’s line of color electronics equipment includes a complete range of imagesetters, RIPs, flatbed scanners and computer-to-plate systems. In addition, Fujifilm has a full line-up of film products and aqueous-based conventional subtractive plates.