DI Press Makes Four-Colour Printing Easy

"The Presstek DI press really makes printing four-colour work very easy," said Nick Ward, managing director of Newton Press in Sutterton, Lincolnshire (UK).

"The Presstek DI press really makes printing four-colour work very easy," said Nick Ward, managing director of Newton Press in Sutterton, Lincolnshire (UK).

His company has upgraded to a Presstek 34DI-E digital offset press from an A B Dick-3995 two-colour offset press and a DPM polyester platesetter.

Ward first saw the Presstek DI at the Ipex Exhibition earlier this year.

The investment in a DI press is the latest innovation for Newton Press, which has seen major changes since Nick Ward took over the business in February 2002 after the sudden death of his uncle, Keith Abbiss, who set up the company 12 years ago.

As a minority shareholder but not working in the business, Ward had to make a big decision - whether to join the company full time and take it forward or close it down with the loss of five jobs.

Today the company employs a staff of nine people in new premises, which it had built last year to its own specification.

Ward explained: "When I took over the company, we had an A B Dick-branded 9810 two-colour press, which we have kept to print carbonless work.

I bought the 3995 press and a DPM 34 polyester platemaker two years ago, which has served us well.

However, as the requirement for four-colour process work grew, we ended up factoring 40 per cent of our production." The solution came with the purchase of the Presstek 34DI-E DI press, which Newton Press specified with an IR dryer and PDSE densitometer.

Presstek also supplied the Compose workflow and an Epson 4800 proofing system.

According to Ward: "It's brilliant technology, environmentally friendly with chemistry-free plates and superb quality waterless printing.

It's also easy to use, which was important for us because one of our operators came from outside the printing industry.

He was up and running very quickly following Presstek's on-site training, which was very encouraging." He continued: "I looked at the return on investment before placing the order.

We could pay for the press within five years simply by bringing in-house the 40 per cent of our production that we were outsourcing.

This was without taking account of all the new business that it could help us win.

It's enabling us to be more competitive, more responsive to our customers and to manage our cash flow better now that we can do everything in-house." In the past it could take up to seven days to turn a four-colour job round and deliver it but now Newton Press can do it within three working days, commented Presstek.

Ward added: "Presstek has given us the facility to take this business to the next level.

We are running the DI press from 7.30am to 5.00pm on weekdays as well as on Saturday mornings but we plan to extend the working day as we take on more four-colour printing.".

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