Three university in-plants in the UK have installed Presstek digital offset presses in recent months. In addition to Glasgow Caledonian University, which (as reported in IPG’s May issue) has installed a landscape-format Presstek 52DI, Aberystwyth University and the University of Edinburgh have each installed Presstek 34DI digital offset presses. In fact, this is the second 34DI for Aberystwyth, which is located in Wales.
Despite the sour economy, xpedx is investing. That was the message the company wanted to send when it showed off its new Cincinnati-area print technology center to graphic arts journalists last month. It is reportedly the only U.S. center demonstrating equipment from a variety of manufacturers.
EVEN AFTER installing an HP Indigo 1050 digital color press four years ago, San Diego State University ReproGraphic Services still found it challenging to reach portions of the four-color market. Longer-run jobs were not cost effective on the 1050, so the in-plant was using its aging computer-to-plate (CTP) system and two-color presses to produce them. It was not the most efficient setup. So in 2006, Leslie Rutledge, manager of the nine-employee in-plant, made the decision to install a Presstek 34DI direct imaging press. Life has not been the same since. The chemistry-free, waterless offset press images plates directly on the press, saving time, improving quality and decreasing costs.
The Presstek 52DI-AC combines the power of DI printing with the capabilities of in-line aqueous coating. Commercial, in-plant and packaging printers can expand the range of applications they produce, thus opening new business opportunities.
This paper explores the specific areas where Presstek DI presses offer environmental and economic advantages over conventional offset, digital toner and inkjet printing technologies Presstek DI presses redefine printing and integrate new innovations, which lower its environmental impact while creating new business opportunities for printers.
To be successful, printers must learn to manage their businesses in a manner that addresses today’s market conditions. One of the challenges this presents is a reconfiguration of the print production platform to efficiently and cost effectively produce the full gamut of run lengths. This white paper authored by WhatTheyThink.com’s Cary Sherburne discusses how to meet this requirement.
IT HAD been a test of perseverance, and Otis Johnson had finally won. Three years ago, the manager of Printing and Graphic Services at the University of Texas Medical Branch put in a proposal for a direct imaging offset press. He had analyzed the amount of short-run, four-color work his in-plant was producing on two-color Heidelbergs and decided a DI press would be the perfect solution. But before his proposal could be approved, the university president retired. The interim administration would not act on it, so Johnson waited patiently. When the new president came on board, Johnson tried again. This time he got
LIKE MANY states, Georgia has been experiencing a budget crunch in recent years. To cope, the state mandated a 6 percent budget cut and banned all equipment purchases. So how, then, in a penny-pinching environment like this, was Columbus State University Printing Services able to install a four-color Presstek 34DI digital offset press in July? “We were able to justify the DI press...because it could pay for itself,” explains Manager Randall Bramlett. “More than a third of our print volume was going outside at commercial rates, and bringing it back in-house stood to quickly pay for the press and then save the university
JUSTIFYING NEW equipment on paper is one thing, but real-world verification is far more satisfying. For Jim Sebes that happened not long ago when a customer of the Cuyahoga County Central Services Printing and Reproduction (CSPR) Division asked for a quote on 50,000 single-color, one-sided documents, to be run on the in-plant’s two-color Sakurai press. A local copy shop also made a bid. The customer’s eyes nearly bulged at the result. “They couldn’t believe the price difference,” recalls Sebes, senior printing coordinator for the eight-employee in-plant. It was $1,400 cheaper to print the job on his in-plant’s offset press. This incident only underscored the
HUDSON, NH—February 28, 2008—Presstek, Inc., the leading manufacturer and marketer of digital offset printing business solutions, today announced an alliance with Press-sense, the world’s leading developer of Business Flow Automation for the Print Industry™. Under the agreement, Presstek will offer the Press-sense portfolio of Web-to-print and business management software as part of its on-going plan to surround its digital offset product portfolio with value-added business solutions. Presstek will offer both licensed software and hosted versions. Presstek will be demonstrating this workflow solution at The Graphics of the Americas trade show in Miami, FL from February 28 to March 1 (Booth #1090), and
