July 31, 2003 -- Virtual Literature Management Limited (VLM), a digital print shop in the U.K., has surpassed 25 million impressions in the past 12 months entirely on Nex-Press 2100 digital production color presses of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). The company has operated two NexPress 2100 since last June, and installed a third press in January of this year to support expanding volumes. Digital fulfillment services, primarily for customers in the real estate and finan-cial services industries, have played a significant role in VLM reaching this milestone, according to Declan Malone, managing director of VLM. “With our Internet-based business model, VLM customers demand thousands of individual jobs each day and millions of impressions each month, without a sacrifice in quality.” Malone said. “To accommodate this volume, we need a digital color press that combines the reliability and nearly the image quality of an offset press, with the quick turnaround and flexibility of a digital printer. The NexPress 2100 is uniquely suited to our needs and the only choice for our business.” “This milestone is not only a success for VLM, but is also a success for Heidelberg and the print media industry,” said Wolfgang Pfizenmaier, president of the Heidelberg Digital Print Solution Center. “Industry analysts have been predicting that Web-to-print fulfillment represents the fastest-growing application for digital color printing. The NexPress 2100 press is a perfect match for digital color busi-nesses like VLM, as it combines the quality, durability, power and flexibility to successfully realize this application.” The NexPert operator support system and its operator-replaceable components (ORCs) is instrumental to the productivity of the NexPress 2100, explained Venkat Purushotham, president and CEO of NexPress Solutions LLC. “Three essential elements of our design make the NexPress 2100 a machine that loves to run for high-volume customers like VLM,” Purushotham said. “First, it employs robust parts and materials that support high duty cycles. Second, ad-vanced on-board diagnostics detect and correct potential problems before they occur. Third, ORCs allow users to do most maintenance on their own, resulting in high uptime and productivity.” Founded in 1965, VLM employs 100 people at its three locations in Dublin, Ire-land, Birmingham and London, both England –– VLM’s new facility for the financial market. The all-digital marketing firm purchased the NexPress 2100 ma-chines to offer next-day turnaround on every job, with average run lengths of 60. According to Malone, the key to being a competitive player in the marketplace is its fully automated process. This enables VLM to run multiple systems with fewer operators across several shifts. Customers can go online, choose a tem-plate for marketing collateral, upload images and key in the text. The system then builds a marketing collateral piece, which can be proofed online and sent to VLM ready to print. It is a process that has enabled VLM to maximize produc-tivity, while minimizing time and labor costs. “Our goal has always been to be a significant player in digital color printing –– the fastest growing area in the graphics arts industry,” Malone said. “ We’re seeing that growth firsthand. We are continually adding new customers. Over the next year, we will double our number using the NexPress 2100 press.”