Northend Creative invests for efficiency

Print Solutions

Northend Creative Print Solutions, based in Sheffield, is celebrating 128 years in the industry this year. Now it has become the latest to invest in RMGT Ryobi LED-UV litho printing equipment.

The RMGT Ryobi 925 LED-UV that has been installed is joined by a Cron 3632UVP platesetter.

Nigel Stubley, Northend managing director, said: ‘We visited last year’s drupa with the aim of finding the right B2 digital press, to join our existing SRA3 digital presses, but the efficiencies and productivity of the Ryobi 920 with LED-UV has taken litho printing to a new level. The return on capital of this equipment means that SRA1 litho with UV curing is the most cost effective way forward for our business right now.’

The new press is a five colour for 8-up A4 format production. An LED-UV curing unit is incorporated into the configuration for near instant drying of the sheet, enabling immediate back up or progression of the work to the finishing department. PDS-E SpectroDrive in line printing quality control enables the operator to monitor and maintain the quality of the printed sheet throughout the run.

‘Our calculations suggested that this new machine would be more productive than our two existing B2 presses due to the SRA1 format, the printing speed, the latest make ready capabilities, and, most of all, because of the instant drying provided by the LED-UV curing. We were able to visit the team at Precision Printing to see the Ryobi machines in operation. They had recently undergone the same investigations, and they had produced similar calculations prior to their purchase decision, which was very reassuring.’

For plate origination, Northend has opted for the Cron 3632, a UV computer to plate system offering a high quality, affordable solution, capable of imaging plates at up to 2800 dpi in sizes of up to 925 x 675 mm.

The company has also installed four ink.line systems from technotrans.

The company has used ink cartridges for over ten years and given the additional cost of ink Northend’s managing director Nigel says it would be counter productive to take any other route.

‘Waste is cost and when the inks are two to three times the price of conventional ink, cartridges have to be the sensible route. LED ink will only polymerise within a narrow UV curing frequency so the ink is not at risk of setting in the cartridge,’ he said.

Ink cartridges also maintain a cleaner pressroom environment and require less manual intervention.

technotrans commissioned the ink.lines as part of the press installation, a process which went very smoothly and the engineer was able to help solve a water pressure issue while he was there.

In addition to the ink.lines technotrans has supplied to the company over the years it has also supplied its water treatment systems. The technotrans alpha. r is supplying water with the right hardness and pH to the new press.