On September 12 at its headquarters in Hudson, New Hampshire, the originator of the direct imaging press concept, held a "pre-Graph Expo event" to launch its most versatile, productive product ever: the 52DI.
The event drew media and experts from across North America, including Dr. Joe Webb of PrintForecast.com and Dr. Frank Romano, founder of TypeWorld and professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Presstek today employs over 1000 in three manufacturing facilities and sales offices in the U.S., Canada and Europe. It has approximately 18,000 customers in North America and another 2,000 in Europe.
In addition to direct imaging presses, Presstek manufactures plates for both on-press imaging and computer-to-plate output. In fact, half of the company's business is in CTP and DI consumables—plates and chemistry.
Presstek now also owns venerable small-press and duplicator manufacturer AB Dick, and sells, services and supports its full line of prepress, printing and finishing products as well as supplies.
As 50 percent of Presstek's sales are of consumable products for DI and traditional offset printing, 35 percent are in equipment, including the AB Dick lines of printing and finishing equipment; the remainder of Presstek's sales are in service.
The New Press
Presstek's new 52DI is already drawing rave reviews. "Because of the increased demand for four-colour printing and our improved ability to produce it thanks to the DI, I expect to see our revenues grow by at least 20 percent over the next couple of years," said Brent Lawrence, owner of Kwik Kopy Print and Design in Pickering, ON.
"DI presses are well—suited for short-run, fast turnaround printing," said John Zarwin, an analyst for American Printer magazine. "It's very competitive in the 250 to 5000 copy range."
InfoTrends, the U.S. consulting and analyst firm for the digital imaging industry, conducted an independent study into firms that already use Presstek DI presses. "Makeready on a DI press takes half the time of a conventional offset press," it found; "90 percent of (users) said DI printing allowed them to increase their business through new customer acquisition," and "96 percent increased business by growing their share of customers' total print business."
The new press is a major step forward for the manufacturer. First unveiled at Ipex in the U.K. last spring, it's a 52-centimetre (20.47 inches) landscape-format press. This makes it much more versatile for the printer than a 19-inch, "portrait-format" model.
Like all DI presses, the new model simultaneously images all four plates directly on the press, on the cylinder. This ensures precise register as well as optimal dot quality. Because the imaging and printing is waterless, there's no problem with ensuring ink-water balance and a lighter impact on the environment. It also delivers better colour saturation with less dot gain.
The 52DI is also Presstek's most productive press to date. Makeready, including imaging plates on the press and getting "up to colour" takes just over 10 minutes in independent tests. •
