The UK’s first Presstek 75DI B2 format digitally imaged offset press has been sold to RCS in Retford, Notts. It will replace three conventional offset presses.
Presstek announced the 75DI in early 2010 and showed it at Ipex that year. It’s based on a Ryobi sheetfed offset B2 press modified for waterless operation, with Presstek on-press thermal plate imagers. It can run up to 300 line screens and job changeover times are quoted as six minutes.
This is a multi-unit press with flexible configurations from four unit simplex up to up to ten units perfecting. Previous Presstek models, although also based on Ryobi presses, have been smaller (34 or 52 cm) and they’ve used common impression cylinders which limits them to four colours and simplex operation.
However, a ten unit 75DI would use in effect ten platesetters, so would be expensive to build. The RCS press will be a five unit configuration with inline aqueous coating.
RCS is a commercial printer whose turnover is generated through a network of reseller partners. It already runs several pure digital presses from Canon, Konica Minolta and Xeikon as well as numerous conventional offset presses. At the end of 2010 it was the first company in the UK to install a Scodix digital embossing inket press, for producing raised images in clear UV ink.
‘One of the important criteria in our selection process was the small environmental footprint of the 75DI press,’ said Michael Todd, owner and managing director of RCS (pictured above). ‘Its waterless printing, on-press chemistry-free imaging and reduced waste support our environmental sustainability efforts. We spend a great deal of time thinking about how to reduce the impact of our activities, and replacing three conventional offset presses with the environmentally friendly 75DI will make a huge difference in that regard. When we saw the press at drupa 2012, we knew it would be our next acquisition.’
In addition to looking for an environmentally sustainable solution, RCS was seeking a press that could address the growing volume of very high quality short runs. ‘Like most printers today we are seeing both run lengths and turnaround times drop,’ Mr Todd said. ‘The Presstek 75DI will allow us to continue to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations. Its 6-minute makeready means we can profitably handle more jobs in one day on a single press than we could with our previous configuration at quality levels that we believe will thrill our customers. We also look forward to leveraging the 75DI to help our Resellers increase their activity. We’re really looking forward to getting this press installed.’
‘We are so excited to be working with a firm as well-known, versatile and committed to environmental sustainability as RCS,’ said Axel Thien, Presstek’s president of the Europe, Africa and Middle East Region. ‘I am confident that RCS will be delighted with the Presstek 75DI once it is installed, not only in terms of its small environmental footprint, but also with the quality and productivity it will contribute to the operation. RCS is accustomed to using stochastic screening and will be able to continue that service with the 75DI without any extra work or effort.’
Contact: www.presstek.com
