KENNESAW, Ga. -- September 25, 2007 -- Digital Color Graphics, Southampton, Pa., recently switched from polyester to metal plate production with the installation of a compact Suprasetter A52 thermal CtP platesetter with MetaDimension RIP from Heidelberg. The $3 million, full-service commercial printer had been turning out award-winning four-, five-, and up to 10-color work using polyester plates, before escalating issues with makeready, color and registration prompted the change.
"We determined that if we could get up to color quicker, we'd save half the cost of our 4-color Speedmaster SM 52 press every month in paper, time and labor," says John Rosenthal, co-owner. He hasn't been disappointed. "Our new platesetter makes better plates," Rosenthal says, noting that Digital Color turns out between 250 and 300 Heidelberg Saphira offset aluminum plates every month.
"The makereadies on our Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 52 4-color press are down to around seven minutes, and the registration is excellent. It was all in the plate." With 25 employees, Digital Color Graphics specializes in short-run color printing and serves customers located primarily in the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley area. Intent on growth, the company acquired a mailing operation last year and expects to add a second Speedmaster SM 52 5-color press in the near future. Digital Color Graphics has been a Heidelberg customer for eight years.      
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Crowson Stone Printing Co., Inc., Columbia, S.C., reached another milestone recently, when it installed a Suprasetter E 105 SCL platesetter from Heidelberg. The company, which has been steadily building and refining a Prinected workflow for the past several years, had taken its plate process "as far as we could go," says Rob Anderson, vice president, operations.
"Although we weren't going after more speed and capacity," he explains, "the automation on the new Suprasetter just works better. In addition to producing a more accurate product, we've been able to eliminate one staff position. Nobody handles plates anymore."
The Suprasetter 105 produces up to 500 plates a week for Crowson's 10-color Speedmaster SM 102 press. The general commercial printer also operates a POLAR cutting system, a 16-page Stahlfolder and a Stitchmaster ST 270 8-pocket saddlestitcher. The company also relies on front-end efficiencies gained with Heidelberg's Prinect Prinance MIS and Prinect Printready prepress workflow.
For 82-year-old Crowson Stone, it's all part of a commitment made more than a decade ago to acquire and implement the tools necessary to continue to be "relevant" to its customers, Anderson says. "Heidelberg shares our vision in committing to be a single-source supplier for its customers, and in opening up access to training and other resources that support that vision. It's great to be working with a company that is moving in the same direction we are."