Kennesaw, Ga. -- Heidelberg USA’s small format demo center in Buffalo Grove, IL recently hosted an Open House for printers interested in learning about the Heidelberg Speedmaster 52 press with Anicolor. The event was the second in a series of seven open houses to be held this calendar year at the Buffalo Grove facility, which functions as Heidelberg USA’s small-format printing demonstration center.
 
“We were immensely pleased with the generous turnout for this open house,” said Tom McTernan, regional vice president. “Heidelberg experts were on hand to answer numerous questions about the totally unique Anicolor press, a tailor-made solution for print shops looking to deliver offset quality at highly attractive margins for short runs. With our customers’ help, we look forward to building an even stronger case for Anicolor during upcoming events.”
 
Bill Runde, chairman of Commercial Printers, Inc. in Pompano Beach, FL, came to the Open House in Buffalo Grove to evaluate the Speedmaster 52 with Anicolor as a replacement for the company’s existing Heidelberg GTO perfecting press. “We were very impressed with the fast setup times, low waste and print quality of the Anicolor machine. We’ll definitely be taking a second look.”
 
Offset Quality for the Shortest Runs
The Speedmaster SM 52’s revolutionary Anicolor Inking Unit is the small business printer’s answer to shrinking print runs. Dramatically shorter setups mean users can print more high-quality jobs each day at lower cost.
 
“You can’t argue with five-minute makereadies and a maximum of just 50 sheets needed to come up to color on a 4-color job,” said Dan Ellis, president and co-owner of C&S Press in Orlando, FL, which selected a 4-color Speedmaster SM 52 with Anicolor inking unit over several digital options it had been evaluating. “That’s a savings of 350 sheets over a typical conventional 4-color makeready, and it’s a huge benefit to us in terms of client satisfaction and higher profitability.”
 
Not only does Heidelberg Anicolor technology offer the advantages of offset for the shortest of print runs, it also stands up favorably to competitive short-run, nonvariable, digital printing solutions. “We don’t spend more than $20,000 per month for consumables on any one of our existing offset presses,” Ellis said, “and we weren’t about to start.”
 
This series of open houses underscores Heidelberg’s steadfast commitment to supporting and developing the small-format market, evident in the recent “birthday” of the Printers Advantage Program. Free to join, www.printersadvantage.com <http://www.printersadvantage.com> offers its members a set of offers, information and business solutions specifically addressing the needs of the small business printer. Likewise, Heidelberg’s U.S. manufacturing plant for the Printmaster QM 46 in Sidney, Ohio is underway, with the first American-built machine to ship in August.