First UK Firm To Use World's Fastest Platesetter

Lynhurst Press, Romford, is the first company in the UK to install Screen's Platerite 6600S 'intermediate size' platesetter.

Lynhurst Press, Romford, is the first company in the UK to install Screen's Platerite 6600S 'intermediate size' platesetter.

The device, which was supplied by Mayday Graphics, is claimed to be capable of imaging 30 plates per hour and is considered to be the fastest thermal B2 platesetter in the world, according to Screen.

The Platerite 6600 series was first revealed to the UK marketplace at Ipex 2006 and is designed to support a growing range of B2+ format presses, including Ryobi and Harris systems.

At Lynhurst Press the system will make plates for five Komori presses and is currently imaging around 1,000 Fuji B2 and B3 plates per month.

Alec Samuels, managing director of Lynhurst Press, said: "Like so many other printing companies, we are rising to the challenge of reducing our lead times to keep up with the increasing demand for faster turn-arounds.

As we only have the space for one platesetter, we chose the most obvious model, the Platerite 6600S, which is the quickest and most reliable platesetter on the market." Lynhurst Press said it is now able to produce plates in half the time that it would have taken with its previous system.

As well as increasing the company's productivity, the Platerite 6600S helps the company deal quickly with any issues that may arise, should, for instance, a customer requiring a last minute change, or a plate breaks on press.

Samuels continued: "Before upgrading to the Platerite 6600S, we owned Screen's Platerite 4000 for five years.

As with our new system, the Platerite 4000 came with a range of automatic features, such as in-line punching, which enhances registration and saves time on press.

This time around, however, we have also installed a single automatic plate loader - the SAL6600 - which allows us to leave the machine running unmanned for a number of hours." And he added: "After using our original Platerite 4000 day in day out for five years, we cannot commend Screen's technology high enough.

It constantly delivered high-quality results and kept our presses printing to a maximum.

We part exchanged it for our new Platerite 6600S, so it has now been sold on to another print company as a second hand machine.

The fact the Platerite 4000 it is still producing plates like new proves just how durable Screen thermal technology is." Along with the installation of the Platerite 6600S, Lynhurst Press upgraded its existing Trueflow workflow to version 3.4.

According to Samuels, the software is central to the organisation and he explained: "Whether or not a file is sent as a proof to the customer for approval, to our Xerox digital printer or to one of the offset presses, our Trueflow workflow ensures the image is kept consistent so that our customers are always satisfied with the results." Lynhurst Press will use the Platerite 6600S to serve its client portfolio of 40 publishing houses, for which it provides commercial printing services, such as leaflets, inserts, brochures and stationery.

Customers include Haymarket, The Financial Times and Emap.

A limited company Lynhurst Press employs 50 people and has an annual turnover of GBP4million.

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