Offset presses continue to be star performers for in-plants.

By W. Eric Martin

OFFSET PRESSES continue to pull their weight amidst the flashy digital printers that have been popping up in offices nationwide. These digital newcomers might be great for short-run work, but for big projects they still must step aside and let ye olde offset workhorses do their thing.

Don’t think being called “old” is an insult, though. The longevity of these machines is impressive and can easily add up to decades.

Jim VanderWal, production manager at CRC Product Services in Grand Rapids, Mich., says that his shop’s four-color Heidelberg SM102 was purchased in 1989 and the two-color Heidelberg SM72 dates back to 1975. Over the years, his shop has added an ink dispensing system and ink pre-setting capabilities to the 102, a recirculation tank to the 72, and Kompac dampening systems to both machines. Enhancements like these, and the in-line sheeters on two of the shop’s presses, have revitalized these older presses.

Aside from the machines’ ability to be customized, VanderWal says, “perhaps the best feature is the long life and service these machines provide.”

Paul Wannigman with Coburn’s Print Services has more traditional compliments for offset, specifically his two-color Sakurai 258EII.

“Year in and year out, we produce massive amounts of prints,” he says. “We can print those high volumes at lower cost per impression and with less equipment.”

An added bonus, says Wannigman, is that the sheet size perfectly fits the sign formats for their supermarket customers. The signs also have other issues which offset addresses far better than digital.

“With our signage, we need to create preprint that gets imprinted later with black toner, and imprinting doesn’t work very well with digital preprints,” he says. “We have tried to create toner-based color images and go back and put variable black data onto those images. But we kept running into problems—fuser, toner and curling problems.”

Adds VanderWal, “On heavy coverage, we find more cracking on the spine of folds with digital due to the inks and the heat involved.”

Other Toner Problems

Rich Bundsgaard, director of Print, Mail and Copy Solutions at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, has run into similar problems.

“There can be additional finishing issues with toner-based imaging inherent with certain projects, where offset will allow more flexibility,” he says. This makes his 20x28? five-color Komori perfecting press the preferred machine when working with certain PMS inks, metallics and tricky customer-requested finishes.

“We like its extremely high-quality printing, low maintenance costs, quick makereadies, high percentage of production time, and ease of operation and speed,” Bundsgaard says.

“Quality, speed and ease of makeready” are also the offset features that John Sarantakos of the University of Oklahoma highlights about his five-color MAN Roland 305 double perfector.

“We frequently print reproductions of art pieces, and digital prints are simply not good enough,” says Sarantakos, administrator of Printing, Mailing and Document Production Services. “The customers with a high level of knowledge understand the value of quality and the cost related to producing that quality.”

Low cost on long runs is a common compliment for offset, but the definition of “long” isn’t set in stone.

“The quality improvements of CTP and lower unit cost due to efficiency gains have lowered the break-even point,” says VanderWal, “Recently we had a large poster that was much cheaper to print on press than digitally, and the quantity was only 200!”

Offset Work on the Rise

Digital printing has claimed some offset projects, but that hasn’t automatically meant a drop in offset volume.

“There are a lot of laser printers out there, and that does take away some of our projects,” admits Wannigman. “But to date, volumes are still going up, not down.”

Sarantakos agrees that the development of a digital niche has nipped some sales, yet adds that “our offset work has grown at a steady rate over the past three years. In fact, it accounts for 85 percent of our total sales.”

“We have seen a change in pattern, not a drop in overall offset volume,” says Bundsgaard, who estimates that 45 percent of his in-plant’s work volume is four-color offset. “We are obtaining longer runs, but a deduction in the short runs as far as color work goes.”

VanderWal says his in-plant’s offset volumes have dropped, but due to lower break-even points rather than digital competition.

At Southern Illinois University Printing/Duplicating Service, in Carbondale, offset volume has held steady. The dollars attached to that volume, though, are what matter to Superintendent Dennis Maze.

“Our number of four-color jobs is less than 10 percent,” he says, “but the percentage of income from four-color is around 23 percent.”

It’s no surprise then that these in-plant managers plan to add to their offset offerings in the years ahead.

“Our five-year plan does include at least one press,” reveals Wannigman. “It will be a struggle [to justify the cost]; it usually is. But once the ROI proves the value, we shouldn’t have much trouble.”

As Sarantakos points out, “The cost justification for any piece of equipment that ends with six zeroes is tough. Not every shop has the market—real or potential—to pull that off.”

Maze says his in-plant needs both a larger offset press, specifically a four- or eight-up four-color press, plus a digital press to accompany his two-color 20? Hamada A252 and four-color 20? Heidelberg.

“One of them will have to wait a while,” he says. “With the amount of large four-color jobs that we have been doing, that will be a tough decision.”

Ideally, the amount of overtime rung up by the 22 employees in his in-plant will be enough to convince management that the need is there.

For his part, VanderWal has learned that old machines still have a lot to offer, so he will likely be looking for a used perfecting press, most likely a 4/4, in the next few years. After all, that same machine will likely still be chugging along far into the future. IPG

Find Out More

Akiyama Int’l www.akiyama.com

Halm Industries www.halm.com

Hamada of America www.hamadaofamerica.com

Heidelberg www.heidelberg.com

KBA North America www.KBA-USA.com

Komori America www.komori.com

MAN Roland www.manroland.com

Mitsubishi Lithographics

Presses www.mlpusa.com

Presstek www.presstek.com

Sakurai USA www.sakurai.com