Kennesaw, Ga., – Heidelberg recently hosted a successful UV event entitled, "Exploring UV" at the Clampitt Paper Company's Creative Center in Dallas. The event was well attended, and, interestingly, a majority of attendees were not Heidelberg equipment owners.

"What made this event unique was the large number of printers in attendance who did not own a Heidelberg press, and yet were eager to hear about Heidelberg's UV expertise," said Clarence Penge, Vice President, Sheetfed Product Management for Heidelberg USA. "This reinforces an apparent need in the Dallas market for UV knowledge and techniques that can help printers expand their offerings and gain a key competitive advantage."

During the event, Heidelberg and UV component supplier IST led discussions on core UV components having the largest potential impact on a printing operation in terms of production flexibility and contribution margins. Among the topics covered were UV market trends; UV inks, coatings and special effects; lamps, cassettes and other press components that can affect print quality and cure.

In addition to the technology presentations, Heidelberg conducted a panel discussion with Heidelberg UV users, including Blanks Printing of Dallas. Blanks' Vice President of Operations, Kevin Schrader, discussed the company's success with its Speedmaster XL 105 UV press. Schrader confirmed not only that the 6-color XL 105, installed in 2007, was the company's first UV press, but also that a mere three days after start-up the company had already commenced the sale of UV work.

"We had heard horror stories from other printers whose adoption of UV printing was anything but smooth," Schrader said, "but our experience with Heidelberg was terrific. The Speedmaster XL 105 UV is perfectly engineered for success with UV techniques. Heidelberg has deep understanding of UV, and their service team was there to support us from the beginning."  

Other Blanks panelists praised the XL 105's ease of operation, integration, and efficient training by Heidelberg experts with flattening the UV learning curve. Specific features such as Instant Start UV/Smart Guard technology were credited with doubling UV lamp life to 2500 hours and longer, eliminating headaches for operators, and reducing wear-and-tear on the press itself.
 
Heidelberg USA will host additional UV road shows in the coming months. Visit www.us.heidelberg.com for more info.