Centralisation And Poly Plates Allow Litho Growth

After Prontaprint Notting Hill franchisee Hitesh Hindocha acquired Prontaprint Chelsea, he centralised litho printing and invested in a DPM 34 polyester platesetter with Scanmaster.

After Prontaprint Notting Hill franchisee Hitesh Hindocha acquired Prontaprint Chelsea, he centralised litho printing in one location and invested in a DPM 34 polyester platesetter with Scanmaster and a 9995 dedicated two-colour press.

The equipment was supplied by A B Dick.

Hitesh Hindocha explained: "When I took over the Notting Hill centre three-and-a-half years ago we were using a camera to make our plates and we found it impossible to be competitive with traditional metal plates.

At that time we only had a part-time printer because litho printing only represented about 20 per cent of our production.

Now with both retail outlets, it has increased to about 45 per cent.

A B Dick contacted me when they heard that I wanted to upgrade the litho side of my business.

I felt very comfortable after I had seen the DPM 34 and the 9995 being demonstrated at an A B Dick open day.

I also knew that other Prontaprint centres have been very happy with the DPM polyester platemaker." The DPM entry-level, 2400 dots per inch (dpi) platesetter uses A B Dick's patented Thin Drum technology - a design that claimed to give superior image definition and repeatability, whilst maintaining high output speeds.

Hindocha purchased the DPM 34, bundled with an A B Dick 9995 two-colour portrait press.

He added: "Both our sites are in very smart areas of London and our customers, who are a mix of business and private, expect high quality work.

We decided to buy the DPM 34 with Scanmaster software so that we can scan-in hard copy.

Together with both Macs and PCs at the front end, we can handle a wide range of artwork, which is essential as we never know in what format jobs will be given to us.

We also purchased the press with an IR drier because we do print quite a lot of double-sided jobs.

Delivery was quite challenging for A B Dick because they had to bring it in through a hole in the floor, which they did over a weekend." Hindocha concluded: "The new equipment has certainly taken us to the next level.

Our quality is better and turn-around is faster.

We are also more competitive and that's proven by the growth in our litho business and the amount of repeat work we are getting without doing any advertising.".

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