Pressprint is the first company in Auckland to buy a new Heidelberg XL75 five colour press, with coater, featuring Heidelberg’s InPress Control and Autoplate XL. This press is also the first ordered in New Zealand through Heidelberg’s Carbon Neutral Manufacturing Program, which offsets the carbon used to manufacture the press.
Established in 1972, Pressprint is a family owned company that employs a skilled team of 40. Pressprint predominantly produces a wide range of general commercial print jobs for its creative client base of advertising agencies and graphic designers who represent some of the best-known companies and brands in New Zealand. It also does a percentage of work for print brokers.
Jason Pressley (pictured), the company’s sales manager, and son of owners Barry and Karena Pressley, says: “The primary motivation for the purchase was to replace one of our existing A2 presses, which was a bit tired. We felt it was time to update and move to the latest technology. We’ve been a Heidelberg house for 30 years and while we were keen to stay with Heidelberg because of our past experience, we also looked at other options including the digital B2 machines to be certain of our decision.
“When you compare the digital B2 presses with the Heidelberg XL75 it quickly becomes clear that the Heidelberg offset option is the standout solution," he says. "What cemented us in buying offset and not going to B2 digital was the fact that the XL75 will do five minute make ready and run consistently at 15000sph where the B2 digital machines are barely doing a 1000 double sided sheets an hour. The investment is similar, but the production statistics on digital don’t add up."
According to Pressley, the click rate that is a feature with some of the digital presses and the cost of consumables can turn out to be very expensive.
“We believe A2 digital technology is not quite there yet and the cost of click charges means a lot of money that ordinarily would be going into our pockets is not," he says. "With Heidelberg we are paying a similar amount of money for a press that will be vastly more productive and give us greater options in terms of the jobs we can push through. And the profitability of each job directly goes to our bottom line, not in click charges.”
The Pressley’s didn’t only look at the digital options in the class, but also other offset machines. But Jason says the combination of the Heidelberg XL75 five colour press, along with Heidelberg’s proprietary InPress Control, for fully automatic colour management and registration and the XL Autoplate that enables fully simultaneous plate change, proved unbeatable.
“When we were considering the XL75 we set up a demonstration of the press independent of Heidelberg, visiting another print company where we were able to see the press in action. We were very impressed and the press’ performance exceeded our expectations. We saw true five minute make ready and the running speed of the press was fantastic," says Pressley.
Pressprint’s XL75 also comes with Heidelberg’s Wallscreen, which displays the print sheet in a 1:1 depiction. And the press also features the newly introduced energy meter, Prinect Energy Reporting, which calculates energy consumption on the press and enables the measurement of energy used for each job.
“With the XL75 we have future-proofed our business for at least five years and we are extremely confident that we have made a very sound investment,” says Pressley.