KENNESAW, Ga. - October 11, 2007 - Charles Baker, president of The Baker Press, Orlando, Fla., may be teasing when he pronounces his company's new Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74 "the most glorious press ever made," but he's utterly forthright about the benefits the new press has brought to his business.
"There's not a job we can't print on this press, and we can do it three times as fast and with superior quality," he says. The company also had the foresight to integrate the press with its prepress workflow to take advantage of the CD 74's extensive presetting capabilities.
The company's full Heidelberg pressroom also hosts a 2-color Heidelberg SORSZ and Heidelberg GTO, while its full-service bindery makes good use of 30" and 45" POLAR cutters as well as providing saddle, wire and perfect binding capability. The general commercial printer, which will celebrate 40 years in business next year, serves a regional client base comprised of corporations, schools, and small manufacturing concerns throughout Central Florida.
Baker expects the new press will open the door to a wider market for high-quality, longer run work, such as the packaging job it won recently, based on the ability of the press to handle a 31-pt. box board substrate. "This wonderful press has definitely reduced the level of stress in our pressroom," Baker says. The Baker Press has 20 employees, many of whom have been with the company for more than 15 years.
PressEX adds Speedmaster CD 74 Press
PressEXPrint.com, a Web-based printer and direct mailer located in Largo Fla., recently added a 29" Heidelberg Speedmaster CD 74 with aqueous coater and extended delivery to its pressroom. The new machine replaces a pair of aging 40" presses, enabling PressEX to take advantage of state-of-the-art Heidelberg technology to turn out high-quality full-color brochures and postcards for its financial clients.
"Our stock-in-trade is fast-turn printing, so we need perfect quality with no tweaking," says Jason Gabay, general manager. "The Speedmaster CD 74 has reduced our press labor by 40 percent while increasing sales and yielding flawless work. Not only is the 29" format more efficient for us, but the automation on the new press makes it possible for us to run it efficiently across two shifts and get higher quality and better productivity than with two 40" presses running around the clock. And because the new press interfaces with our prepress department, we can take a job from prepress to plate in less than 45 minutes. It's a perfect fit for our operation."
The company, which employs 30, also operates a pair of POLAR 115 high-speed, programmable cutting systems. PressEX has been wholly Internet-based since 2002 and has enjoyed 30-40 percent annual growth in recent years, according to Gabay.