TULSA, Okla. -- Print buyers are often under a lot of pressure to stand out from the crowd with their materials. That, in turn, can exert considerable pressure on their print providers. In October, Diversa-Graphics, Inc. put a new Mitsubishi Diamond 3000LX sheetfed press into operation. The high-end printer and folding carton manufacturer is confident its finished products will stand out. Diversa-Graphics installed the six-color, 40-inch press with an inline ultraviolet (UV) coating system. The company can apply UV coatings to give folding cartons a high-gloss finish that makes images pop off the sheet, or add unique coating effects to specialty printing items. "Diversa-Graphics didn't have in-house UV capabilities before," explained Rolf Reichardt, president of the 35-employee firm. "We believe UV is the direction the industry is headed. This is the first press of its type in Oklahoma with inline UV coating. It allows us to print high-impact packaging and use specialty substrates, such as foil and plastics." Reichardt, formerly a print broker, started Diversa-Graphics as a brokerage in 1989. By 1995, the company had made the transition to manufacturing. Diversa-Graphics operates a 25,000-square-foot facility and employs 35 people. The company expects to end the year 2005 with about $5 million in sales. For Diversa-Graphics, the package is everything. Previously, the company employed a six-color, 29-inch press to print high-quality work. In addition to standard folding cartons, Diversa-Graphics produces sleeves for CDs, DVDs and software, point-of-sale displays, blister packaging and die-cut laminated items. When customers requested UV coating, Diversa-Graphics printed the jobs and then sent them out to be coated. "Bringing the UV coating in-house enables us to control the process and shorten turnaround times," Reichardt said. "It may also offset some of the expense of the new equipment." The Diamond 3000LX enables Diversa-Graphics to address new opportunities. It features a Doyle cleaning system to remove dirt, dust, loose paper particles and other contaminants from sheet stock. The press is equipped with a UV curing system incorporating hybrid-UV coating technology from Grafix LLC. The curing system consists of three medium-pressure mercury lamps after the coating unit and three individual interstation UV lamps that can be positioned between any of the six printing units. An extended delivery aids in the drying process. Diversa-Graphics plans to emphasize hybrid-UV technology in its printing. However, using Chameleon dual-purpose rollers on the press, the printer can switch freely between conventional, UV and hybrid printing without changing rollers. "We purchased this equipment for maximum flexibility," Reichardt stated. "It gives us a wide latitude to print with conventional, hybrid and full UV inks and apply aqueous, UV and blister coatings. We can also dry the hybrid inks with UV lighting without any coating. The product is dry and can be finished more quickly than conventional printing. More jobs can be printed on a daily basis. The overall results are faster turnarounds and better-looking jobs." Fast turnarounds are especially important to Diversa-Graphics because of its short runs. Run lengths range from 1,000 to 25,000 impressions, according to Reichardt. "Diversa-Graphics is all about makereadies," Reichardt declared. "We originally went with a half-size press in 1995 because it offered faster makereadies and running speeds than the older-generation 40-inch presses available at the time. However, the Diamond 3000LX is one of the new-generation 40-inch presses. It has the speed and fast makereadies we need." The press incorporates Mitsubishi's DiamondLink III automated makeready system, including the ColorLink CIP3/4 server and closed-loop spectrophotometry. Reichardt added that he was impressed by the versatility of the press. "It has the ability to print lightweight sheets all the way up to 40-point board exceptionally well," he noted. "Press operators can easily perform job changeovers from lightweight stock to heavy-weight carton stock." Since this is the company's first Mitsubishi press, confidence in the Mitsubishi organization played a major role in Reichardt's equipment choice. "We compared different presses and watched print tests at other companies," he said. "The Mitsubishi print tests ran very smoothly. Some of the other presses experienced problems printing, which caused me to evaluate them less favorably. On top of that, I felt really comfortable with the sales organization. Customer service is important, and I'm positive I can count on Mitsubishi's support as we encounter any issues or problems."