Fine Print Services elects to go LE-UV with Heidelberg

Print Solutions

Fine Print Services is taking the LE-UV route with its latest £1 million Heidelberg investment. It will take delivery of the latest version Speedmaster XL 75-5 LE-UV in January and a 12 year old Speedmaster CD-5+L will go out, resulting in an anticipated 30 to 40% increase in output.

‘The attraction of going LE-UV is the ease with which uncoated stocks can be handled and the visual look, the brighter results you get because there is less ink absorption into the paper. We are a specialist in short run, fast turnaround work so being able to finish jobs straight from the press is a great advantage,’ said Dan Bakewell, managing director.

Although ink costs are higher for LE-UV the process also reduces energy consumption and spray powder costs. For Fine Print Services there is another factor. ‘The biggest cost saving in taking the LE-UV route will be in coating. All our work is coated but that won’t be needed with dry sheets off the LE-UV press,’ said Dan.

Fine Print Services is a loyal Heidelberg consumables user single source and Dan says that this approach will ensure there is hand holding as the company beds in the new technology. All the Saphira consumables that Heidelberg supplies are pre-tested on the relevant equipment.

The Speedmaster XL 75-5 LE-UV will run in tandem with a three year old conventional XL 75-5. The new press will feature the new Wallscreen XL and Intellistart 2 software that, combined with Inpress Control 2, empowers the press to automate much more and leaves the operator to ‘push to stop’ rather than pushing to start operations.

‘Inpress Control has made a huge difference in terms of set up and colour quality and we understand that the latest version is even faster and cuts even more start up waste,’ said Dan.

The company is very digitally canny. It enlisted Heidelberg’s integration services team to link Prinect pre-press and press modules with Papermule’s digital asset management programme and Shuttleworth’s management information system three years ago. It means it can accept online orders, automate processes and monitor results.

Fine Print plans to send existing and potential customers samples from its new press in the new year so that they can determine whether LE-UV will provide them with the visual results or differentiation that they are seeking.