Tasmanian media group first with a Makomatic

Thinking laterally about the constantly changing print, graphic arts and media industry is what keeps AT&M’s David Peck coming back to work each day. We ask him why his company chose the new Makomatic automatic platesetter.

AT&M Group is a textbook lesson on how printing businesses around Australia need to think outside the square.

Founder and managing director David Peck is a printer by trade who broadened his horizons by moving into sales. He says the scale of Tasmania’s media needs accelerated his company’s expansion. “We stopped thinking of ourselves as being in the business of printing and began thinking of ourselves as being in the business of communications.”

AT&M, which stands for ‘Artistic, Talented and Motivated’, began eight years ago, with David, his wife Julie and creative director Eddie Mallinson.

The 22-year-old Sprinta Print began to expand – and the cross-media group now has a staff of 35, offices in northern and southern Tasmania – and a host of multimedia government and corporate clients, including several on the mainland.

The company now includes facilities for design, marketing, advertising, media placement and direct mail, augmenting the core operations of Sprinta Printing, which makes up 25 per cent of total revenues.

A typical project mix for a client might be the creation of a press advertisement, which is timed to the release of an annual report, so Sprinta Print needs to be flexible.

While the company runs several digital copiers, its main revenue is from its offset output. But even though the imagesetters were operating 24 hours a day, Sprinta’s film-based reprographics were not keeping the work up to its eight presses. In 2002, the decision was made to go computer-to-plate and David briefed a senior staffer to look for the right platesetter to take the company into the digital age.

After two years of intensive research, Sprinta identified the new ECRM Makomatic violet-light 4-page computer-to-plate setter as the optimum solution – and recently became the first customer for the machine in Tasmania. Manufactured by ECRM in the US, it is part of the Mako range of photopolymer and visible-light setters that is known for its quality and reliability.

For Sprinta, it meant a reliable transition to CtP -- at a low cost of ownership and operation. When David signed the deal with The Currie Group, his company became the first Makomatic customer in Australia. “We were told to keep our film equipment for a while but it turned out that we could switch fully to CtP much sooner than we expected.”

The fully-automated Makomatic 4 easily meets the needs of the pressroom, says David. “Metal plates are loaded in yellow-safelight conditions. And automatic cassette switching (with an optional second cassette) means we can quickly and easily change jobs between A3 and A2 plates, which suits the needs of our clients for a diverse and time-sensitive mix of work.”

From a logistical perspective, the arrival of the Makomatic has meant “no more arriving at work after the night shift to find rolls of film everywhere,” says David. “Instead, you arrive to find neatly sorted plates, ready for press.”

Service and set-up through Bilton Graphics, The Currie Group agency in Tasmania, was second to none, says David and maintenance calls have been few and far between, “which is important if you’re based on an island.”

At the operator end, it is simplicity itself, says David, and is regarded by our design studio staff as “just another output device available at the press of a button.”

Meanwhile, at the business end, the Makomatic 4 offers seven resolutions up to 3556 dpi and a maximum line-screen of 200 lpi, so it generates higher quality images than film, with sharper dots producing more vibrant on-press images.

Sprinta has a comprehensive workflow, with Horizon folding, stitching and collating equipment in the finishing department. The company is set up to offer a full array of services from creative to the dispatch of finished printed product.

David says a long-term goal will be full automation of the workflow with Job Definition Format. “The aspect of this industry I like the most is its constant change. It’s exciting and challenging and every day brings new technological and business developments.

“But with tried and true equipment on your side, you can have the confidence to meet these changes head on.”