Aug. 5, 2003 - When Scott Watkins began his digital printing business in 1991 from the basement of his house, he had a clear vision for the future –– to be a digital printing leader in the Washington, D.C. area. That vision has taken him from his basement to a $3.8 million printing business, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with 23,000 square feet of office space. To maintain its leadership in digital printing, the company recently replaced its previous digital black-and-white and color printers with four Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 print systems and a NexPress 2100 press a little over a year ago and hasn’t looked back since. Today, Signature Printing is an award-winning digital print shop headquartered in Chantilly, Va. with 35 employees. It also offers a full gamut of additional printing services, from prepress services to traditional offset printing and a full range of bindery services. On-demand, mixed-print book publishing Employing its Heidelberg digital systems, Signature is leading the way toward a new trend of mixed print -- producing individual books, training manuals and convention materials in short runs for the corporate and government markets using both the Digimaster systems and NexPress 2100 press. For example, the company produces software training manuals with a four-color cover and inside pages with black-and-white and color text and graphics. "From start to finish, we can meet any customer's printing requirement –– whether its printing for books, manuals or catalogs –- all black-and-white, all color, or a mix of both –– we are the one-stop shop for all printing needs," said Scott Watkins, president and founder of Signature Printing. According to Watkins, each Heidelberg device offers unique benefits that are helping to drive his print business forward, with total volumes of 4 to 6 million impressions per month. "The Digimaster 9110 print system is ideal for the rigors of on-demand printing applications, delivering unprecedented image quality and paper handling performance," Watkins said. "Even the developer particles are unique –– a quarter of the size of our previous machines –- so we get sharper lines and clearer, crisper text. "With the NexPress 2100 press, we can offer new digital capabilities that enable us to deliver higher-value, higher margin printing services, such as quick turnaround jobs and on-demand printing, and we don't have to sacrifice speed for quality to get output from even the most challenging hard copy." The Heidelberg Advantage: Quality, Speed and Greater Cost Control For Watkins, the decision to choose Heidelberg as its digital print manufacturer was based on quality, speed and a business model he couldn't resist. For years, Signature Printing used digital print systems that were based on click charges. Today, with the NexPress 2100 press, the company incorporates a traditional printing business model that delivers direct control over its operational costs. "My previous equipment cost me much more per month to operate compared to the Heidelberg equipment," Watkins said. "The image quality compares to offset, and I can produce short-runs of ready-to-finish books with the fastest turnaround time anywhere."