Headley Brothers takes Superia approach to success

Print Solutions

Kent based Headley Brothers was one of the first UK printing companies to offer sheetfed, web and digital printing services under the one roof in 2004. Digital printing was a vital step, providing the company with the capability to address the latest market trends for shorter runs, print on demand and variable data printing.

Roger Pitt, the company's CEO, commented: ‘For us, being a forward looking company means continuously reviewing and advancing our print production processes. Pre-press has become more important than ever. By 2014, we knew we needed to enhance our capabilities further in that area to drive production efficiencies, optimise our workflow and streamline costs.’

Workflow automation was a natural next step.

The company has now instigated Fujifilm’s Superia solution, a customisable package of pre-press solutions that includes XMF Workflow, printing plates and other consumables.

‘We have enjoyed a long standing relationship with Fujifilm, and place great trust in its products and people,’ said Roger. ‘Fujifilm's Superia package met our exacting demands, addressing our automation needs, increasing our plate imaging capability and helping us make essential water savings. The fact that it could be provided and serviced by one supplier – from plates to platesetters to workflow – was an added bonus.’

Headley Brothers replaced two manual CTP devices on its second plate production line with Fujifilm's Screen Ultima 1600 II multi-format VLF thermal platesetter, including a scalable autoloader – a key element in efficient handling of large format plates. ‘We put the platesetters through some stringent tests and were impressed by the stability of the technology,’ added Roger. ‘It also meant we could share the same plate material for our web and sheetfed machines, ensuring cross line output consistency.’

The company also selected the water saving option for its two existing Fujifilm FLH-Z ZAC processors, which enabled it to reduce its water use by 16 litres per plate produced, with projected savings of more than two million litres of water over the next five years. In addition, two XR-1200F developer waste reduction and re-use systems were installed with the processors to further reduce water usage as well as pre-press developer waste.

The investment also involved enhancing the company's existing XMF Workflow production suite. XMF Remote was upgraded to HTML 5, meaning its customers no longer need to rely on Java based applications to benefit from the online job submission and approval system. The colour management process was also upgraded via an investment in XMF ColorPath, a cloud based system hosted by Fujifilm that allows calibration, ICC profiling and alignment to ISO 12647 for a wide range of print devices, as well as two Epson Stylus Pro proofers from Fujifilm.

‘This investment completely automated our front end systems, which has not only enabled us to be more efficient in our platemaking processes, but across the business as a whole – we are now 30% more efficient,’ stated Roger.

He concluded, ‘Our focus on saving water demonstrates not only our move towards optimum production and cost efficiency, but also our tireless commitment to reducing our environmental impact. Our on-going partnership with Fujifilm ensures we continue to raise the bar and deliver the high quality products and service our customers expect. Fujifilm is not a 'one night stand' but a long term relationship where both parties speak the same language and share the same vision for Headley Brothers' future.’