The first UK installation of a Heidelberg Versafire EP digital press has taken place at Treetop Design & Print, where it is expected to increase the share of turnover attributable to digital print to 20%.
The Crawley, Surrey-based family business, which began as a design house before adding Heidelberg presses to control quality and service, has traded in a Linoprint C571 for the new production-oriented Versafire EP which was launched in late April 2018.
‘This new press features the larger sheet size and can handle up to 470gsm and that gives us the flexibility we need to expand the digital side,’ said partner Will Lovegrove. ‘Up until now we have not pushed digital but, moving forward, we will. The press has already handled work for a rock group, one of our existing customers. It will also allow us to expand our POS business and to handle short run and sample packaging as well as general commercial work.
‘We did look at other options and print tested the three that were short-listed but Heidelberg gives us reassurance because with both litho and digital presses we need really good service and support and Heidelberg has treated us very well over the years,’ he added.
Treetop has Heidelberg CtP, cutting, folding and stitching equipment as well as B2 litho and the new digital presses. It anticipates that the litho/digital print turnover split will reach 80/20 by the end of 2019.
