MAN Presses Boost the Bottom Line at Two Firms

Loveland, CO—A pair of companies, one in the Midwest and one in the western section of the U.S., has each experienced a great deal of sales growth, and in both cases executives at the company credit that growth, in part, to new additions on the pressroom floor.

When Cheyenne, WY-based Vision Graphics opened its new 25,000-square-foot plant here, the first piece of equipment on the floor was a 40˝ MAN Roland 700 perfector with a coater extension. Six months later, after the company's sales grew 65 percent, Vision installed a second press, a 55˝ MAN Roland 900.

"We stick to the principles of running a good printing company: deliver jobs on time, produce a quality product and price it right," says Vision Graphics President and Owner Mark Steputis. "Our new equipment has given us the ability to grow at a phenomenal rate."

The MAN Roland 900 press boasts speeds up to 13,000 sheets per hour. Later this year, Vision Graphics plans to install MAN Roland's PECOM ServerNet software on its 900 press, which will link its prepress department to the press. Officials say this will take the company on its first step toward full CIP3 production.

"This will allow us to get more jobs done per day, and that's what it's all about," Steputis says. "It will allow us to get more business, and since our makereadies are shorter, we can handle that new business. Each day, ServerNet could be the difference between getting another $20,000 job in the shop and not."

In addition to the presses, Vision Graphics has installed a complete Wohlenberg/Baumann 72˝ cutter with a rear load flow system and a Baumann pile turner.

Meanwhile, Hillside, IL-based commercial printer Darwill is out to prove that you don't have to be big to be progressive. Family owned and operated, Darwill has been in business since 1951. It has two locations, including its headquarters in Hillside, and approximately 170 employees.

Darwill completed the prepress-to-press workflow recently by installing two Roland 700 Series presses, a TPP off-line preparation workstation and a PPI 2 interface earlier this year.

The PPI 2 interface uses MAN Roland's PRINTLINK software to connect Darwill's Creo CTP device directly to its presses; the software then presets the ink keys by setting the surface shares and uplinking the job content automatically. The TPP station allows the press foreman to present all job content such as sheet size, and program the press off-line from his office.

Howard Van Dyke, Darwill CEO, estimates that this combination has slashed the company's makeready by 25 percent. The company installed the second of the two presses, a six-color Roland 700 with coater, during the fourth quarter of last year.

"Most of our runs are short," says Van Dyke, "and the combination of automation and electronic control has cut down on makeready, brought greater control to our print quality and, at the same time, allowed us to stay current with technology."

With this increase in productivity, Darwill's sales are up 15 percent over the prior year. "We are able to do offset printing, digital printing and complete fulfillment extremely efficiently," he notes.