Sydney outfit SOS Print and Media says its recently installed ten-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 offset press has more than doubled the productivity of its previous machine.
The installation of the 10-colour Speedmaster XL 105 long perfector is its biggest offset press investment to date and director Michael Schulz says it is helping the business reach new levels of productivity at the Alexandria factory.
“The Speedmaster XL 105 is so much more productive than what we had before, and it gives us the benefits we need regarding makereadies and handling heavy paper,” he says.
“It is at least twice as productive, if not more. We are realising that when we do duplex jobs, on cardboard, and so on; we run jobs now in half the time.”
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The long perfector spits out 18,000 sheets per hour at maximum speed, with five over five perfecting and a sheet size of 750mm x 1050mm.
The new XL replaces company’s previous Speedmaster. UIt was installed in the space of a month. Schulz says it is now up and running as scheduled, staff have been trained and customers notified.
Offset still makes up the lion’s share of the company’s turnover, with the Speedmaster XL leading the charge – though Schulz says it is not a large majority, with digital more than earning its keep in certain sections of the business.
“At this point the majority of our turnover is still from offset. We have a lot of life in that offset factory. Digital is growing, it’s getting into more areas, but it’s not replacing offset – yet – and won’t for a while.”
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As it continues to compete in a crowded market, Schulz says SOS will focus on relationship building to secure its position in the future, and offer a gamut of services as well as putting ink to paper.
“In a very competitive market we try to find solutions for clients that allow us to establish close relationships with them,” he says.
“Ideally that would include that range of production equipment and also IT services and distribution and warehousing.”
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