The UK’s first perfecting new generation UV press begins printing commercially this week following two weeks of trialling at Indigo Press in Southampton.
The machine is an eight-unit Komori Lithrone S29 H-UV, replacing a standard five-colour Lithrone 28 and running alongside a ten-colour Lithrone 29 which has been the company’s Number 1 press.
The machine has produced some commercial work during the training period, says joint managing director Tony Swift. He is one of a triumvirate who bought the business 11 years ago. Since then Indigo has moved from a company that always bought secondhand into one that is on its third generation of new Komori technology.
“From our point of view, the new machine offers a lot more capacity,” says Swift, who runs the sales side of the business. “It has incredibly fast makeready, and it has H-UV meaning instantly dry sheets printed on both sides.”
This will be of particular use on the growing volumes of uncoated work that Indigo is asked to print. John Ellis, joint managing director in charge of production, says: “There’s an increasing demand for uncoated substrates, and we won’t ever have to worry about drying times or marking on any materials that have traditionally been considered to dry too slowly.”
Some papers, adds Swift, can take several days or longer to dry completely, running the risk of marking if processed too quickly. It also opens new opportunities for the business, especially on A4 landscape books because the press will print a full-out image without the risk of marking on tapes or the reverse of the cylinder. “We could never be competitive on quoting for these before,” he explains. “That has changed.”
There are no plans to add to the array of finishing equipment, but Indigo will be looking to recruit to cope with additional volumes of work and expand the hours that the finishing department operates. The new press will run on three shifts.
The company will start informing customers about the capabilities of the new machine this week, but is, says Swift, not planning to push too hard.
“Everything that is uncoated will go on this press,” he says. “It is already producing noticeably better quality on these materials. We have no issues with perfecting, in fact it is better because the first side of the sheet is dry when printing the reverse, so there can be no marking. The ten-colour will mop up everything else. The ten-colour press helped get us through the recession.”
The company positions itself to take on any type of work which has pushed it to sales of £4 million before the impact of this investment is felt. Richard Doherty, the joint managing director (finance), says: “We could be printing a highly prestigious 100-page brochure for a household name or a set of business cards for the electrician on the corner. Our business model ensures that we continue to make profits in all these areas and a wide spread and good balance of all sorts of jobs and clients is something which keeps us on our toes and ensures that we are a healthy business.”
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Indigo Press is now running the UK’s first eight colour perfecting press with new generation UV drying. The Komori S29 Lithrone H-UV is now in full operation at Indigo’s Southampton factory.
