Kennesaw, GA – Prepress automation via Heidelberg Prinect introduced Petree Press in Sterling, Va. to the benefits of a digital solution that has enabled the company to produce more work at lower cost and with far less effort.

The company's transition from conventional to digital prepress workflow took shape seven years ago, when Petree became a user of the original suite of Heidelberg Prinect products. The shop's Prinect capability, upgraded with the installation of a Suprasetter A52 in 2009, currently includes Prepress Manager, MetaDimension, Signa Station, Remote Access, Color Toolbox, PDF Toolbox, and Prepress Interface.

The obvious benefit of prepress automation with Prinect, said owner Noel Petree, has been a reduction in staff from 10 to nine-a move that saved the company more than $50,000 a year. With just a change of cassettes, the auto-loading Suprasetter can image three different plate sizes in succession. Petree also said that throughput is further improved by the Prinect GUI (graphical user interface), "which is far more intuitive than it used to be." It's also possible to make plates in a completely hands-off manner by logging onto the platesetter.

Now, said Petree, the company doesn't have to employ "an expensive prepress operator" to image plates. Guided by Prinect, press operators and even bindery personnel can do it themselves on the Suprasetter. The company currently has three people (including Petree himself) who can make plates as the need arises.

Digital Press as Proofer
While Petree's main goal is to keep its five-color Speedmaster SM 52 perfector supplied with Saphira Chemfree plates, Prinect also serves as a practical bridge to the company's digital printing capability. Using Heidelberg's Digital Print Manager, Petree is able to preset its HP Indigo digital color press. Thanks to this input, offset color matching on the digital press is so precise that the Indigo can be used to proof fully imposed jobs that will be output on the Speedmaster SM 52.

A three-day training session in press fingerprinting, color profiling, and other aspects of color management held earlier this year has also helped boost performance at Petree Press. As a result of the training-available to all Heidelberg customers through Heidelberg's Print Color Management color optimization service-everyone at the firm now shares a "sense of confidence" that color requirements can be met, Petree said.

Sticking with What Works
Petree said it was the "Heidelberg quality mantra" surrounding his press equipment that first inclined him toward seeking a workflow solution from the same supplier. He also liked the idea of full accountability across the board from a sole-source vendor-a far cry from the finger-pointing and evasiveness the shop had to endure in the days when it had "10 varieties of equipment from 10 different OEMs." Moreover, Petree believes that the proven value and quality of Heidelberg products have more than justified the cost of his investments.