A Flood of Four-color in Alabama

Process color printing is a booming business at the University of Alabama. Printing Services has just added its second four-color press, a 26˝ Sakurai 466SIP two-over-two convertible perfector. It replaced a two-color, 26˝ press.

At one time, the 31-employee operation, based in Tuscaloosa, ran its four-color jobs on two-color presses. Then the demand for four-color recruiting materials, newsletters, brochures and alumni publications got so great that the shop invested in a four-color 29˝ Sakurai 474P press, back in June of 2002.

“Once we installed that first machine and our quality improved dramatically, it just grew,” explains Bill May, director of Printing Services. “Demand exceeded capacity, and it was very easy for us to cost justify a second piece of equipment.”

Both presses are CIP3-compatible, which means operators can send ink key data from prepress, and the ink keys on the press will be automatically preset.

“It gets us up to color a whole lot faster,” says May. “Your process is not so reliant on operator skill.”

May doesn’t think he’ll have any problem keeping both presses busy.

“There’s more print now than there’s ever been,” he says.