DXP Saves Time and Money with Presstek’s Chemistry-Free Aurora Pro Plates

Aurora Pro plates will hold 1%-99% at 200 lpi. DXP, who have standardised their printing at 200 lpi, have found that the quality of the image is significantly sharper than with their previous plates. “With our previous plates, we were also experiencing colour matching problems, which the deployment of Aurora Pro has overcome,” Livemore commented.

Saving production time
DXP is saving about one and a half minutes on the production of each plate. “While this does not sound like much, it adds up when you consider that in the first week of this month we produced 440 plates,” said Livemore. “Presstek specifies that we should get 25,000 impressions off of a plate, but depending upon the type of work, we actually can get more than that from a set of plates, meaning fewer plate changes. This is added to the fact that we can inspect the plates before mounting them, reducing idle time on press. Our productivity has improved substantially, thanks to Presstek and Aurora Pro.”

Livemore is pleased that Aurora Pro plates are considerably less expensive than the previous plates he was using. He also appreciates the fact that they are very stable, which is vital to a small and flexible business like DXP. “If for some reason we can’t print a job, then we can’t meet our customer’s expectations and their increasingly tight deadlines,” he said. “Handling a variety of jobs predictably and reliably is our lifeline.”

"Previously Presstek plates were only available for our own hardware,” said Peter Swann, UK National Sales Manager for Presstek. “Now we can offer the benefit of high speed, thermal digital plates—with no gum or developer to buy or dispose of—to a wide range of printers who are looking for chemistry-free plates to use in their existing thermal imagers. This open platform approach is a critical part of Presstek’s growth strategy and is allowing us to gain a presence in a broader range of companies across Europe.”