On:Demand Goes B2, Larger and Greener!

Northampton-based On:Demand Print Services has announced details of the installation of a fully automated Screen PlateRite 2055Vi-S platesetter as part of the company's half-a-million pound expansion into the B2 market at its Brackmills Industrial Estate premises. The growth into B2 has also led to the company recruiting four new personnel.

The CtP solution is working in tandem with a recently installed Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 five-colour press as the eight year old business moves up from B3 production. The Screen 2055Vi-S system, along with Fujifilm Pro V violet plates, was purchased from UK Ryobi distributor and Screen dealer Apex Digital Graphics, Hemel Hempstead.

The platesetter and plate purchase from Apex represents the continuation of a relationship which also saw On:Demand purchase its previous B3 format platesetter from the company. "The team at Apex provide an excellent technical service, and a great sales and after-sales support as well," said Shane Holdcroft, Managing Director of On:Demand, and a former demonstrator with Heidelberg UK. "They are excellent people to do business with."

With regard to the latest Screen platesetter, Shane adds: "The system provides for excellent performance, and offers the green credentials that a platemaker now needs to provide. Environmental focus is important to us as people and as a business, as well as being important to our customers. We are producing significantly less waste with the minimal processing required for these plates. In fact, there are no financial negatives at all, and it is certainly costing us less money to produce the new Pro V plates. The bank was keen to lend its support for this investment." Shane was extremely complimentary to the team at National Westminster Bank and Lombard who helped to arrange the finance for the shift to B2 production.

The move has had a significant impact on the productivity of the company, with a 40 to 50% increase in turnover already looking realistic. This has led to the addition of four new members of the team at On:Demand: one in pre-press, one for the printing team, and two in the finishing department. "We moved into B2 because of customer demand," explains Shane. "Production runs that we were already handling were getting longer, and existing customers were also talking about more work that they could give us if we moved up to a larger format. It was a natural progression for us as a business. Following installation of the B2 press the amount of estimates that we were producing simply doubled over night! We swiftly moved to double-day shift, hence the need for more employees, and are already looking at the potential for full 24-hour production."

As an additional element of the package, On:Demand are also using an Apex Ink Profiling software solution. Apex Ink Profiling takes data from the front-end, recording the ink quantities required on the press to produce a specific job, and allows them to be transferred, via a card reader, to the press computer system. "This software ensures that we can set the press up quickly and accurately. As soon as we put the plates on the press, and have achieved register, the ink requirements are already set and we can go straight into production," said Shane. "It saves the press operator around 15 minutes per make-ready, and it also saves a good 350 sheets of paper on each make-ready, which we would have had to put through the press just to achieve the correct density. Saving that amount of paper on each and every job is a real environmental plus as well a cost saving."

Eight-year-old On:Demand Print Services now employs a team of eleven to produce a wide range of commercial colour print for customers both in and around Northamptonshire and across the whole of the UK, with typical work including flyers, leaflets, brochures, posters and stationery items. The company is very environmentally aware, running its press with vegetable oil based inks and the absolute minimum of alcohol in its fount solution. The company has now also obtained FSC and PEFC accreditations. The Heidelberg SM74 was purchased from used-machinery specialist Central Graphic Machinery, and was installed over the Christmas period.