Hudson, NH – Presstek, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing solutions, today announced that St. Louis based Tacony Corporation, a privately-held consumer manufacturing and distribution company with more than 650 associates in 12 offices around the world, is now using Presstek chemistry-free Aurora Pro thermal plates in its in-plant print shop. The department handles the production of all marketing collateral, product inserts, and business stationery for the corporation, which manufactures and distributes household vacuum cleaners, commercial floor care products, home sewing products and ceiling fans.

"We are always looking for ways to improve our processes and lower costs," says Chris Davis, Prepress Manager at Tacony. "Presstek's Aurora Pro helps us to do both. These innovative daylight-safe plates cost about the same as our previous plates, but we are saving thousands of dollars annually because we no longer have to purchase, manage or dispose of gum or processing chemistry." Davis points out that all three of the company's pressmen are giving Aurora Pro high marks. "They like the strong latent image on the plate, making it easy to inspect them before mounting on press. They are also impressed with the fast rollup these plates offer and the overall quality of the plate, especially the shadow detail. As a prepress professional, I like the fact that we are now providing a better printed product, we are tighter to our proofs, and the detail in the printing is much crisper. The environmental benefits are an added and important advantage." Davis also likes the ability to easily store plates for reprinting. "No gumming required," he states. "We simply wipe them and rack them."

"We are pleased to be working with Tacony and look forward to establishing a long-term partnership with the company, just as the company works hard to establish those relationships with its customers," said Mark Levin, Presstek's President of the Americas Region. "This installation clearly demonstrates the benefits of of Presstek's open platform thermal plates. They are imaged on a Screen PlateRite platesetter and then mounted for printing on two- and four-color Heidelberg presses. Tacony also uses these plates with its ABDick duplicator. The plate dropped very nicely to their existing workflow."
Aurora Pro Chemistry-free Plates

Chemistry-free Aurora Pro plates are daylight-safe metal plates that can be imaged on a range of thermal platesetters including Presstek's Compass and Dimension Pro as well as models distributed by Screen and Kodak (Creo). Aurora Pro plates are rated at up to 25,000 impressions and have strong resistance to UV inks and solvents .The plates can be imaged at a resolution of 1% to 99% dots at 200 lpi (80 l/cm) and as well as with stochastic (FM) screening.

Aurora Pro's chemistry-free process requires only a simple water wash after plate imaging before mounting on press. There is no need to consume extra space, time, energy and cost with expensive developers and noxious chemicals. Presstek's open platform chemistry-free plates eliminate workflow steps, while providing a more affordable total cost of platemaking ownership and enabling an environmentally sustainable operation that also contributes to a safer employee workplace.