West Drayton, UK - Presstek, Inc., a leading supplier of digital offset printing solutions to the printing and communications industries, reports that Akros Print of East Kilbride, a specialist in business-to-business commercial print, has installed a Presstek Compass 4038 platesetter with Presstek Aeon plates. Akros credits the Compass with  a fourfold increase in plate production. Established in 1971, this second-generation family firm employs nine people and has a turnover approaching £1m.

"Our new Compass platesetter has dramatically reduced the pressure on our prepress department," says Jim Wright, managing director. "Plate production is much smoother and we are enjoying increased throughput."

Wright runs the family firm with his brother Gordon. Aeon plates generated by the Presstek Compass 4038 platesetter are used to produce B2 and B3 print on a Komori 28 and a Heidelberg SpeedMaster 52. Akros also uses a Konica Minolta Bizhub for ultra short runs.

Akros began its search for a new platesetter more than a year ago and reviewed a number of alternatives. Akros ultimately chose the Presstek Compass 4038 and Aeon plates because of the increased production speed of 38 plates per hour, a very competitive price and his established relationship with Presstek. "We were being asked to produce more short runs and turn jobs around faster this was creating a bottleneck in the prepress department since our previous platesetter ran at 10 plates an hour," states Wright. "Our operator was having difficulty keeping up with plate production requirements, and that sometimes meant the press was waiting for plates, cutting into our plant throughput. But with the new Compass running at 35 to 40 plates an hour, we now have four times more productivity."

Wright cites a recent fine art catalogue that required 120 plates, explaining, "On the previous system, that would have taken us two and half days. But with the Compass, we had all plates produced in three to four hours. The continuous loading is a huge benefit for us. Our prepress operator can work from his desk while the plates are loaded. That is a much better use of his time and increases the amount of jobs we can push through every single day."

Pre-punched plates are also adding to the time-savings, according to Wright. All of the Compass system's productivity enhancements have eliminated prepress bottlenecks, freeing staff for more productive work, minimizing press down time, and allowing Akros to plan production more efficiently. He concludes: "It enables us to be more proactive with sales because we know we can confidently meet the ever-shortening response times customers require as a job prerequisite."