Eclipse Colour has responded to changing client demand with the purchase of the latest Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 106.

It was with a clear strategy in mind and a purchase intended that Simon Moore and his Eclipse Colour team took to the Heidelberg stand at Drupa this week.

Last year the company’s sales rose 22% to £20m following the installation of a second Goss web in March. Although it expects to achieve £23m this year, the XL106 -10-P will give the company increased productivity and efficiency as it enters 2013.

It is against this background, and with 30% of turnover still being generated by its sheetfed presses, that Mr Moore stopped by to view the Speedmaster XL 106, accompanied by head of manufacturing David Wiess and prepress manager Scott Calderwood.

The company currently runs two Speedmaster SM 102 long perfectors , a 12- and ten-colour with ‘CutStar’ reel to sheet devices. Although these are six or seven years old, each continues to generate 45 million impressions a year.

“Since the introduction of our second web our strategy has changed. All the longer runs, those in hundreds of thousands, go to the web presses. The average run on our sheetfed presses has dropped from 40,000 to 18,000sph. So we aren’t hung up about speed but we need  a press that makes ready very fast and we need delivery at the turn of the year. For this reason we are taking a 15,000sph version of the Speedmaster XL 106 with Inpress Control automated colour and register control and Autoplate Pro semi-automatic plate changing. It will be delivered at the turn of the year, away from our peak production periods.”

Eclipse Colour has found that marketing decisions are being made much later and so the pressure is on them to print work the same day. In addition to the quick make-readies on the XL 106 the company has specified ten units and will use the fifth and tenth unit primarily to seal, enabling them to finish work much faster.

“Colour control is a necessity and we wouldn’t think of buying this press without the automation of Inpress Control. We are as scientific as we can be in our approach to printing and monitor our colour carefully. Heidelberg’s technology is proven and most successful companies in the UK are using their kit. There’s no risk in dealing with them because what they say they will deliver” commented Simon.