Agility Press Reports Big Savings with Heidelberg Prepress, Press Upgrades
Pictured here is Agility Press' Speedmaster SX 52-4+L.
KENNESAW, Ga. — May 3, 2017 — Agility Press, a commercial printer located in Jacksonville, Fla., recently upgraded its prepress and press departments with a new Suprasetter A75 Gen III CtP, Prinect workflow, Prinect Business Manager MIS, and a Speedmaster SX 52-4+L — all from Heidelberg.
A Step Ahead
The new Suprasetter replaces a 2007 model, and the new SX 52 will run alongside an older Speedmaster SM 74. The purchases stem from Agility’s desire to be the go-to supplier for premier, quality printing in Northern Florida.
“Every printer in Jacksonville has the same digital offerings. It’s not about quality anymore, it’s about who can offer the lowest price to win the job,” said Raymond Farah, President of Agility Press. “The truth is the Speedmaster SX 52 is actually going to lower our costs. Right now, we’re paying $9,000 to $12,000 in click charges every month. By moving static, short run work to the new press, we’re going to see those savings month after month.”
The Speedmaster SX 52, equipped with the latest technology, and tried and tested with over 40,000 units sold worldwide, provides an alternative way for print shops to compete with digital printing. With run lengths continuing to get shorter, Agility needed an alternative to printing on its larger 29” Speedmaster. Additionally, the company will see significant time and money savings by keeping four-color envelope work in-house, which it currently outsources.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision to buy another Heidelberg,” according to Farah. “Although it’s more expensive than competitive machines of the same size, with significantly higher productivity, it’s actually cheaper per sheet, and the press lasts longer. With the quality service we receive, we never have to worry about our machine being down. We see this press helping us grow into the future.”
Tripled Production Speeds
To keep up with the new technology in the pressroom, Agility also made the decision to upgrade the prepress department. After purchasing its first Suprasetter in 2007 and upgrading to Prinect workflow, Agility streamlined its prepress department — eliminating the very manual systems it had before.
According to Prepress Manager, Dave Laukitis, “With each new Prinect software upgrade, Heidelberg has automated the process more and more. Additionally, with our newest Suprasetter A75 that we purchased at the end of 2016, we can load two different size plates in two different cassettes and let the machine just switch when needed. We just load plates and go.”
Improved features of Prinect Prepress Manager have also made prepress tasks much simpler and quicker for Agility — tripling their production speeds. The workflow sends preset data to the press, saving valuable time and waste during makeready.
“We can rip jobs quickly, leave them in the queue, and then run plates when we want to,” said Laukitis. “This allows us to leave the machine off until we are ready to make the plates, which in turn saves money.”
The preceding press release was provided by a company unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions.
