Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has recently delivered its 1,000th Prosetter violet platesetter to Harper House Inc. in Dallas, Texas, USA. Harper House was founded in 1919 and started out as a photoengraver trade shop. Today it is with a staff of 76 a comprehensive cross media service provider, including the full range of creative services, photography, premedia and print. Now the company is augmenting its prepress portfolio with this investment in a Prosetter 74. Harper House has its sights set on advertising and direct marketing agencies with particularly high requirements for top-quality color management. "It was the system's flexibility and productivity that impressed us the most. The Prosetter 74 can grow with our requirements. With an output of up to 16 plates per hour, it offers high levels of productivity and can be seamlessly integrated in our Prinect workflow with Signastation and MetaDimension," says Chip Harding, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Harper House, commenting on the company's investment decision. "The Prosetter series from Heidelberg offers small and mid-size commercial printers a cost-effective way of benefiting from a fully automatic CtP workflow. Its modular design and ability to be integrated in the Prinect workflow make it a secure long-term investment for users. Heidelberg customers have lapped up these benefits and we have now had more than a thousand orders," says Andreas Forer, Vice President Product Management Imaging Systems. Proven technology with excellent price performance ratio. The Prosetter series uses violet light and internal drum technology for platesetting, thereby delivering excellent plate production quality at an attractive price performance ratio. The Prosetter uses customizable internal punching to ensure the high registration accuracy. The productivity of the Prosetter 74 starts at 16 plates per hour and increases to 24 with the high-speed version, which can also be upgraded on site. The print formats supported range from the Printmaster QM 46 to the Speedmaster CD 74. New functions now available The new Multi Cassette Loader (MCL), which was unveiled at drupa 2004 and began shipping in mid-September, is designed for greater flexibility and automation when processing several formats. It can hold up to 600 printing plates at 6 mil thick or 400 at 12 mil thick and ensures fully automatic plate production. The MCL enables four cassettes for different plate formats to be exchanged during imaging, which reduces downtime and increases the cost-effectiveness of the overall operation. The Single Cassette Loader (SCL), which automatically feeds plates to the Prosetter and automatically removes slip sheets and up to 400 of these can be held in an integrated collection container. It also loads and transports the imaged plate with its integrated conveyor system to the online processor where the plate is developed. Customers can easily field upgraded from the semi-automatic mode to the SCL and MCL. Modularity for growing requirements The Prosetter series is based on a modular system concept for the prepress stage. Every model can be upgraded to meet changing requirements and add-ons retrofitted on site. The Prosetter images up to 16 plates per hour in four-page format and up to 12 plates in eight-page format. The high-speed Prosetter models (F 74 and F 102) are capable of imaging 24 and 18 plates per hour respectively. Plate on Demand for higher plate throughput The seamless integration of all print operations in a standardized workflow is the key to achieving high performance and cost-effectiveness with every printing system. The Prosetter can be integrated in a JDF-based prepress workflow with Prinect Printready or Prinect MetaDimension. The secure flow of data in Prinect guarantees maximum plate throughput by separating plate production from the other parts of the workflow. The press operator can at any time access the data of any printing form at the Prinect CP2000 Center, enabling him to image individual plates or to completely control plate production from the press control station and thus further improve integration between the prepress stage and the printroom. This "Plate on Demand" function is a distinctive feature that is unique to Heidelberg and is a key element in the future of print production.