Palm Printing Turns to Versafire EP Digital Press from Heidelberg for Variable Data Printing

Palm Printing, a family-owned commercial printer in Sarasota, FL, recently installed a Versafire EP digital print engine from Heidelberg. The new Versafire EP joins a fleet of other Heidelberg products at Palm Printing and serves as the “workhorse” in the company’s digital department – running up to 100,000 clicks for a single variable data job.

From left to right: Ryan Hedrick: President, Palm Printing; Nicole Baker: CFO, Palm Printing; Tim Bowman: Press Operator, Palm Printing; and Renee Phinney: Sales Manager, Palm Printing.

Economical. Flexible. Efficient.

With its digital business focused primarily on producing mailings for non-profits and short run books, Palm Printing needs a digital press that is both cost-effective for long-run variable data jobs and efficient for data processing and inline finishing. Thanks to Heidelberg’s simple pricing model, the Versafire EP is more economical than many other digital presses on the market. “We have another digital press in house, but the Versafire is our workhorse,” said President Ryan Hedrick. The company runs 80% of its digital work on the Versafire and sites running some variable data mailings with as many as 100,000 clicks in a single job. According to Hedrick, “We could never produce that on our other digital press. We would lose money!”

In addition to its cost-effective operation, the Versafire EP is robust enough to handle long run jobs with superior quality thanks to its improved toner formula, which according to Hedrick, is “like offset” in appearance. Palm Printing has also been able to improve its efficiency due to the flexibility of the machine’s design, which has enabled the company to add inline finishing options such as a punch for wirebound books and a Plockmatic saddestitcher with three-sided trimmer and square-back finishing. According to Hedrick, “These additions really have made us so much faster downstream. Now our booklets are even further along in the process when they get to the bindery.”

“We Keep Coming Back”

Even with so many digital print engines available on the market, Palm Printing’s new Versafire EP, which replaces an older generation model, was the only digital press the company considered. “We’ve purchased from other companies before, and nine times out of ten, we’re unhappy with the result,” said Hedrick. “We keep coming back to Heidelberg.” Equipped with two Speedmaster presses, a Suprasetter CtP, Prinect Production & Business Manager, POLAR cutters, and a Stahlfolder, the Versafire EP is a great complement to Palm Printing’s existing Heidelberg line-up. After installation in November 2021, the company decided to complete a full Heidelberg Print Color Management service on both its Speedmaster presses and new Versafire to ensure the color quality between the machines was flawless. This now gives the company flexibility to be able to run different jobs for the same customer between various machines with matching color.

Other benefits of the Versafire EP include customer access to application support – both in person and over the phone. When the machine was first installed, Palm Printing needed assistance with ripping a job containing a large amount of data. “My operator picked up the phone, and someone was immediately able to help him through the process,” said Hedrick. “The job took a quarter of the amount of time it would have taken us to complete it on our own.” Heidelberg’s strong customer support is a primary factor for why Palm Printing continues to turn to Heidelberg solutions. “I think it’s important to see how a company handles problems as they come up. Any time we have an issue, Heidelberg backs their products 100%. They’re the leader as far as I’m concerned. A very strong partner for us.”

Source: Heidelberg

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.