Following detailed profitability calculations and with a clear strategy for the future, Swedish print shop Atta.45 based in Järfälla, near Stockholm, decided to make the biggest investment in its relatively short history. Production operations in the new building to which the company relocated in April last year benefit from a comprehensive package comprising new equipment, services, and consumables worth a total of over €13 million. The biggest part of the solution was installed by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). 

“We’re keen to continue growing in the future, so we needed more space, better logistics, and the most cutting-edge equipment available on the market at present,” explains Managing Director Erik Mauritzon. “We’ve enjoyed an excellent relationship with Heidelberg from the outset and obtain everything from a single source – extremely productive machines together with fast, tried-and-tested services that maximize their availability and perfectly coordinated consumables that deliver optimum print results,” he adds.

The two highly productive Speedmaster XL 106 eight-color perfecting presses – one achieving a speed of 18,000 sheets per hour and the other 15,000 sheets per hour with a coating unit – have been in operation for a few months now. The Speedmaster XL 162 eight-color perfecting press was taken into service in fall 2015 after no fewer than 26 trucks made the journey from Wiesloch-Walldorf to Järfälla. Other new acquisitions include the Suprasetter 162 CtP platesetter, the Stahlfolder TX 96 folding machine, and one Stitchmaster ST 500 saddlestitcher. When Atta.45 started out in 1999, it had 12 employees and most of its machines were from Heidelberg. Over the years, it has always invested in the latest equipment. The company is now one of the largest print shops in Sweden, employing a workforce of 115 and generating sales of over €22 million in 2015. It prints for regional companies in the Greater Stockholm area. Magazines in shorts runs account for a third of products, traditional commercial jobs such as flyers and brochures 40 percent, annual reports 10 percent, and digital printing the rest. The average run per job is around 3,000 sheets. Some 400 different titles are printed for magazines alone, with four to ten issues each year. 

“That makes machine makeready times extremely important to us. We currently perform around three job changes per hour,” reveals Production Manager Tomas Reinhed. “That’s why we appreciate the high productivity of the Speedmaster XL presses, all of which are equipped with the AutoPlate XL automatic plate changer and the InpressControl 2 inline measuring unit that controls and monitors color and register. I’m also impressed by the very high quality of the perfecting presses and their stability in production,” he continues. A technical highlight of the Speedmaster XL 162 is the double gripper system in the delivery. No sheet brakes are required, which saves a great deal of paper and results in stable delivery with excellent stacking.

Optimum materials and reliable service

A 36-month service agreement has also been concluded and all three presses plus the CtP system are connected to Remote Service. The five-year contract for Saphira CtP plates covers a total of just under 500,000 m² and ensures reliable planning, costs, and deadlines.

“Our aim is for further growth to come primarily from short-run magazines, but we’re also looking to combine jobs from different customers on mixed forms and move into the web-to-print sector,” says Mauritzon, outlining the future strategy. “All three presses, especially the large-format machine, are designed for this. We mainly use the latter for products with multiple pages, such as 72- or 80-page magazines. This means we have just two signatures for postpress operations instead of the five with the 70 x 100 format,” he explains. The company is also planning to add inks and blankets from the Saphira range to its existing consumables. In addition, it has already reserved a space and laid the foundations for another large-format press.