CHICAGO, October 10, 2004 – Heidelberg, the bellwether of prepress technology, has advanced the field a step further with the North American unveiling of its Suprasetter range, a new generation of thermal external-drum platesetters that showcase the company’s keystone of reliability at Graph Expo/Converting Expo 2004. Heidelberg will demonstrate this week its Suprasetter, which is designed to expand as a printer’s workload expands, incorporating Heidelberg’s overarching concept of modularity to ensure a growth-as-needed approach to their business. “Our customers expect Heidelberg to develop the most advanced printing equipment in the market, and that includes prepress technologies that can help printers run more efficient businesses,” said Ray Cassino, director, prepress product management, Heidelberg USA. “At this year’s show, we will demonstrate how Heidelberg continues to meet the changing needs of our industry and our customer’s markets with advancements like the Suprasetter, which is the latest in computer-to-plate design and technology.” Heidelberg’s prepress systems incorporate easy-to-use printing applications for print shops of all sizes. The new computer-to-plate Suprasetter supports all Heidelberg plate formats for sheetfed and commercial web offset. The various automation settings ranging from manual to fully automatic are not mutually exclusive, but exist in one machine. Heidelberg’s Suprasetter range of thermal external-drum platesetters was developed in-house and has advanced computer-to-plate imaging technology, streamlining the prepress process and offering previously unseen versatility in the realm of plate handling. The Suprasetter system is available in two models: the Suprasetter 74 and Suprasetter 105. These models offer a variety of speeds and punching options as well as varied levels of automation. These Heidelberg machines, along with the popular Prosetter series, were designed with customer growth needs in mind, offering the following benefits: The Suprasetter features imaging with centered or edge register that integrates plate production into both the sheetfed and the web offset processes. The system was designed with flexibility and versatility in mind. The Suprasetter 74 is compatible with all Heidelberg presses, from the Printmaster QM 46 to the Speedmaster CD 74, as well as presses from many other manufacturers. The Suprasetter 105 images the printing plate format of the Printmaster QM 46 to the new Speedmaster XL 105 and web offset presses. The Suprasetter’s modular design offers varied throughput options. The greater number of laser modules a Suprasetter contains, the faster the imaging speed. Each model is designed for ease in adding laser modules after the unit has been installed, providing customers with the option of expanding or upgrading the machine as the company grows. In the S version, the Suprasetter 74 images up to 19 plates per hour, while the H version offers larger scale productivity of 30 plates per hour. In eight-page format, the Suprasetter E105 can image 14 plates per hour and the Suprasetter S105 images up to 19 plates per hour. The Suprasetter H105 offers a maximum speed of up to 30 plates per hour. These five models are designed with the idea of integration into a previously existing system and are compatible with a variety of machines. Each laser module in the Suprasetter design features an intelligent diode system (IDS), which acts as an automated quality control, constantly screening the level of the laser modules performance. The operator is apprised of workflow through a status report sent by the IDS at an early stage. If performance drops below a specific level, the IDS scans both left and right of the failed diode to find the largest grouping of active diodes, which then act as a safety net, baring the load of the faulty diode. Optimum production can then be restored and maintained through these active diodes. The Suprasetter is also equipped with a temperature control system, which levels any variations in the ambient temperature. It maintains a consistent temperature of the plate drums so that imaging can be performed independently of the ambient temperature and under the same conditions, to guarantee exact plate remakes each time. Through features such as these, Suprasetter is a model of precision, offering constant imaging quality at all times. The Prosetter series of violet platesetters also incorporates a similar philosophy of modularity in prepress technology. Every model in the Prosetter series can be easily expanded to meet a businesses growth, with on-site retrofitting. The Prosetter family is designed to process 16 plates per hour in a four-page format and up to 12 plates per hour in the eight-page format. The accelerated Prosetters (the F 74 and F 102) can output 24 and 18 pages per hour respectively. The manual units of both of the Suprasetter and Prosetter series can be expanded and the system as a whole can grow by adding either a Single Cassette Loader (SCL) or Multi Cassette Loader (MCL). The SCL loads and transports the imaged plate with its integrated conveyor system to the online processor for development. It also ensures automatic removal of the slip sheets and removes up to 400 sheets in an integrated collection tray. For more flexibility and automation when using multiple formats, the system can be expanded through the addition of the new Multi Cassette Loader, which holds a total of up to 600 6mill. plates or 400 12mill. plates ready for fully automated plate production. The MCL allows for cassettes to be exchanged while the imaging process is underway. This reduces downtime and increases overall profitability. The Smart Plate Handling system is a unique and diverse feature that affords job flexibility. The SCL and MCL are connected to the rear of the Suprasetter. Smart Plate Handling allows the user to manually insert the plate in the front of the machine with full automation beginning at that point or, the operator can utilize the semi-automatic and automatic cassette loader in the back of the machine. At that point the interfaced online processor takes the imaged plate and develops it. This allows for plate sizes not in the SCL or MCL to be easily and immediately processed for rush jobs without any delay. The seamless integration of all print phases into a standardized workflow is the secret to peak performance and the cost-effectiveness of any print system. Both the Suprasetter and Prosetter are easily integrated into a JDF-based Prinect Printready prepress workflow. Prinect’s secure data flow guarantees maximum plate throughput by decoupling it from the workflow. At any time the plates from each printing form are easily accessed by the operator at the CP2000 press console, which allows the operator to perform plate remakes or determine overall plate output from the CP2000 press console thus adding a higher degree of integration between the prepress and the press room. This “Plate on Demand” function is unique to Heidelberg and is the future of printing. Also making its North American debut is the Prinect Signa Station 1.0, a completely new software design that significantly simplifies the planning, creation and management of print sheets and substantially reduces prepress effort and time. The new software, part of Heidelberg’s Prinect portfolio of workflow products, features an assistant that guides users step-by-step through the impositioning process. Print sheets for the job can be created in a few steps and, since the user can select from a range of templates, processing times are greatly reduced. The impositioning concept allows considerable flexibility. The separation of folding sheets and print sheets enables users to reconfigure a job from a Speedmaster SM 74 to a Speedmaster SM 102 in a few seconds. In addition, several folding sheets can be positioned on one printing sheet or a folding sheet can be combined with individual data sheets. Prinect Signa Station supports five different binding types, which also can be combined in one job. For postpress, Prinect Signa Station can automatically incorporate a gripper fold or a postfold into the folding sheet. And Prinect Signa Station generates all of the presettings for cutters, folders and stitchers using industry standard CIP4-PPF and JDF.