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Neil Alderson of Alderson Brothers Print Group believes fast makereadies, reliability and colour consistency put this press in a league of its own

What does the machine do?
It prints four-colour process with a coat up to B3.

Why did you choose this particular machine?
We have been missing out on smaller-run leaflet work where our digital operation becomes uneconomical to run the higher quantities and vice versa for our B2 press. Also we made the purchase to keep up with changing technology, ensuring we still maintain our place in the market.

Did you look at any other similar machines?
There are no other machines like this.

What features do you particularly like?
The extremely fast makereadies achievable with the Anicolor inking unit, which also ensures colour consistency across the sheet, from the first to the last, are extremely accurate. The CPC2000 control console is a very user-friendly system making the running of the press more streamlined. From an operator’s point of view, the touchscreen system provides all press control access very quickly, which again is a lot more productive.

Is there anything that you dislike?
The machine is quite labour intensive from a cleanliness point of view, but adding an hour to the end of the week’s wash-up is not much, considering the time saved on printing.

Is there anything that you wish it had that it doesn’t?
I haven’t found anything yet.

How fast is it?
The press prints at 15,000iph, which 95% of the time we run at. The only thing that stops us running at this speed is an unusual stock, such as very light paper or thick board.

How reliable is it?
Very reliable so far, touch wood. We have had a couple of minor teething problems, but we expected that.

What’s the quality like?
Excellent, the Anicolor inking unit is the key. Consistency is not an issue any more. Ghosting is a thing of the past thanks to all the inking cylinders being the same circumference as the plate cylinder, so the ink is only taken from one point every revolution, not from four or more plate rollers.

How much time or money has it saved?
It’s hard to say due to the amount of work that the machine requires to keep it busy. We have had a day, which consisted of 32 sets of plates and 57,000 sheets in a seven-and-a-half-hour shift. The amount of time that this would have taken on a conventional press is definitely double, but the figures are still uncertain.

Has it won you any new work?
Yes. It has enabled us to be competitive in the smaller B3 offset market, where we were not before. It’s another ‘string to our bow’. The ‘one-stop print shop’ is a key selling point for us, and working the machine alongside our existing litho machines has made this concept easier for us to achieve.

Would you say that it offers value for money?
It is a large investment, but the capacity of work we now have for this machine makes the investment relative.

Were there any difficulties experienced during the installation or after?
None.

What about the pre- and after-sales service?
The Heidelberg sales and technical staff are friendly and helpful. We found that the service throughout was excellent.

Who do you think the machine is right for?
An industrial litho company. The amount of work it needs to be kept busy and at full capacity is huge. It needs a company with the work to fill it.

Under what circumstances would you buy another?
If the workload continued to grow, or if the option of larger formats was released.

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CONCLUSION
User’s verdict    
Speed  5/5
Quality  5/5
Reliability 5/5
Value for money  4/5

Supplier’s response     
Richard Bradley, marketing manager for B3 and B2 presses at Heidelberg UK, says: “Alderson’s findings on the Anicolor press are in line with every other user we have. In essence, Anicolor is saving immense amounts of time and paper during makeready. Further developments are on the way to make washing of the press much faster. In fact, where customers have ordered extra ink chambers, the clean-up cycle is already minimised because the work is done concurrently with printing.”
Price On application
Contact Heidelberg UK