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Heidelberg Installs Speedmaster CD 102 Press With UV At North Carolina Converting Company

Press release from the issuing company

KENNESAW, Ga., December 19, 2005 – J.R. Cole Industries, Inc., the holding company for four converting operations in Charlotte, N.C., recently installed a six-color Speedmaster CD 102 press with UV capabilities from Heidelberg at its flagship folding-carton division, Southern Converters, Inc. With automation features, such as AutoPlate, enhanced Preset functions and Heidelberg’s Prinect Integration, the Speedmaster CD 102 has shortened makeready time and decreased start-up waste in the all-Heidelberg pressroom, resulting in quicker job throughput. The new press supplements an existing six-color Speedmaster CD 102 operating with conventional inks and water-based coatings. Lee Swope, general manager at Southern Converters, said the company added the newest Heidelberg press to meet increased customer demand for inline UV jobs. “Previously, we were outsourcing our UV jobs, but as we began taking in more requests for UV projects, we wanted to keep the work in-house,” said Swope. “We have been pleased with our existing Heidelberg presses and we knew that upgrading our technology would allow us to handle increasingly complex work. The new press already is meeting our expectations – we’re running it at 15,000 impressions per hour on most jobs and have increased overall capacity by 40 percent since the installation.” Introduced with new enhancements at drupa 2004, the Speedmaster CD 102 has been widely redesigned to offer maximum productivity and cost-effectiveness with the new Preset Plus Feeder, the Preset Plus Delivery and new features on the coating unit. The press also is equipped with quick-response, high-capacity inking units, which produce consistent high-quality printing throughout the entire production run. “The Speedmaster CD 102 is designed to combine high quality and high productivity with maximum configuration flexibility for companies in the printing and converting industries,” said Roland Krapp, vice president of sheetfed and Prinect product management for Heidelberg USA. “The UV capabilities of the press meet the demand for high gloss, special coatings as well as for different substrates, allowing companies like Southern Converters to print unique high-quality jobs at increased speeds.” Exemplifying Heidelberg’s leadership in the fast-growing UV market is the integration of DryStar UV dryers into the total press concept. All of the inter-deck dryers are freely interchangeable between the printing units and fully controllable via the Prinect CP2000 Center. The delivery dryers, which include infrared, hot-air and UV, are easily accessible and removable for cleaning or service from the operator side of the press with quick-release connections. In the case of Southern Converters, the advanced automation on the press as well as the complete UV integration has made high-quality production of specialized jobs easier, and has improved the quality of the finished product. “Southern Converters has been running Heidelberg presses since its inception,” said Swope. “Our operators are comfortable with the equipment, which makes training faster, and we’ve received impeccable service when needed. Our newest press has done everything that Heidelberg said it would do, which is quite impressive.” Established in 1979, J.R. Cole Industries is a privately-owned company that runs four converting facilities within a 10-mile radius, including Southern Converters, Inc., Labeltec, Inc., Pharmaprint, Inc. and Carolina Prepress, Inc. The company services a national client base consisting of Fortune 500 companies in the HBA, healthcare, household-care, wine/spirits and consumer electronics industries. J.R. Cole Industries is a converter of pressure-sensitive labels and folding cartons, and offers flexographic, offset, rotary screen and rotary letterhead printing, embossing/stamping, diecutting and folding/gluing services.