September 10, 2007 -- Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has sold the 1,500th Suprasetter Computer-to-Plate (CtP) platesetter to an U.S. printer. Last month, Western Graphics of St. Paul, Minnesota, received the 1,500th Suprasetter, a S74 CtP system. Westerns goal is to replace, modernize and update with full automation an older Topsetter system.
On the IGAS trade show in Japan, which will take place from September 21-27, 2007 in Tokyo, the 6,000th Computer-to-Plate produced from Heidelberg will be shown. This accomplishment underlines the strong market position of Heidelberg in prepress.
"The impressive market success of 6,000 CtP devices made by Heidelberg shows that throughout the world the company has the matching answer for customer needs with its CtP strategy. Users especially love the reliability, ease of operation, quality and modularity of the Heidelberg systems," explains Dr. Jürgen Rautert, CTO of Heidelberg, during a press conference at Graph Expo in Chicago.
CtP, a technology with tradition at Heidelberg
Heidelberg had begun developing technologies for direct imaging of printing plates at the beginning of the 1990s. The takeover of Linotype Hell AG in 1997 saw the launch of CtP platesetters in the form of the Trendsetter and, later on, Topsetter models. In 2001, Heidelberg unveiled the Prosetter series, its first CtP platesetter family developed in house for small, medium, and large formats based on violet technology. At drupa 2004, the company presented the Suprasetter family based on thermal technology, a modular design, and a completely new stable laser head, all developed in-house. The latest launch was the Suprasetter A52/A74 series in the fall of 2006. In particular, this offers small and midsize print shops a cost-effective gateway to thermal platesetting while maintaining the same imaging quality as with the high-end models in the series.