Wincanton Print will see a 20% reduction in makeready times and a 20% plus reduction in paper waste when it takes delivery of a Speedmaster XL 75-5+L in March, says its production director Ian Gatfield.
The B2 press replaces one of two six year old presses of the same Heidelberg make and configuration.
However, this time round the company will have inline rather than offline colour and register adjustment, Inpress Control rather than Image Control. It is this facility with its automatic on the run control and adjustment that is key to the time and waste savings.
"We currently use up to 100 or 150 sheets in makeready but this will be significantly reduced, possibly even as low as 20 to 30 sheets on some standard work, and that will change the balance between digital and offset work," says Mr Gatfield. "Currently the grey area between litho and digital is in the 200 to 300 run area but with the new press we are confident that jobs of over 200 sheets, without personalised elements, will be competitive on the Speedmaster."
However, the ISO 14001 environmentally minded company does plan to boost its digital side and to this end it has launched a web to print site called www.saveatreeprinting.co.uk. The company believes its commercial digital and wide format operations in particular will benefit from this new sales tool and, if volumes justify, they could extend this area of the business from single day shifts to longer hours. Some job ganging is done to the benefit of offset operations as well.
Like many companies in this recession there has been some cost cutting at Wincanton Print but armed with the new press, which has the potential to increase offset volumes by a fifth, the company believes it is well positioned to take advantage of the more encouraging economic indicators. The Government clearly agrees because the company has secured a regional development grant for this investment.
One month ahead of the press, a Polar 66 guillotine will be delivered to supplement cutting facilities in the digital department. This is the baby of the Polar range but a very popular and robust machine.
Wincanton's work is diverse from short run business cards to, for instance, a recently completed 70,000 run 64pp foil blocked brochure. It serves offshore banks to local hairdressers, universities to high street shots throughout the UK and abroad.