Dobruška/Liberec / The installing of CtP Presstek Dimension 400 in the Geoprint printshop in Liberec in April of this year further proof that the CtP systems are finding their use in smaller printshops.

“I am glad that I went for it. CtP increases the flexibility and the operation of a small printshop. I am convinced, that in time everyone will have a CtP,” sais the owner of the Geoprint printshop Mr. Jiří Bílek and adds: “Grafitec is a brand name which I work with since the founding of the company in 1993. Now I have a fifth printing machine made at Dobruška.“ 

The CtP Dimension 400 in the Geoprint printshop is also another step in the short history of partnership between Grafitec and the American technological company Presstek. Both companies began cooperation prior to the world exhibition Drupa 2004. At the Grafitec exhibition stand, they used the CtP Presstek Dimension 400 to prepare printing plates for the demonstrating of printing machines. Grafitec became a distributor of CtP and Presstek printing plates in the Czech republic and other countries of the Central and Eastern Europe in the middle of 2004. The first installation of the CtP Dimension 400 took place in October 2004 in the printshop of Mr. Libor Losenický in Nové Město n. Metují. From that time on through KBA-Grafitec, other companies in the Czech republic and abroad have become owners of the CtP Presstek Dimension 400 for SRB2 format and Dimension 800 in SRB1 format.

The displayed machines from Dobruška interested the KBA company at the Drupa 2004. As a result of the interest, the German company group KBA took over Grafitec in March 2005. The mother company confirmed the continuation of partnership between KBA-Grafitec and Presstek.

CtP for three machines

The owner of Geoprint company in Liberec characterizes his company as a “regional printshop with a range of 100 kilometers with focus on low and medium volume of orders”. Twelve people are employed at Geoprint, three of them are printers. The printshop was buying CtP printing plates from an external supplier. But the company found out that the dependency on the supplier became significantly non-effective given by the increased number of printing plates and made a decision to speed up the buying of its own device. The company has made more than 2000 plates in SRB2 format on the new CtP. About 90% of the printing plates are now prepared by the CtP technology. The Geoprint printshop uses the CtP Dimension 400 for the preparation of printing plates for three printing machines of different formats – the four-colour Polly Prestige 474 of SRB2 format, the single-colour Dominant 715 of SRA2 format and the two-colour Heidelberg Quickmaster 46-2 of SRB3 format.

“The choice of CtP Presstek from the KBA-Grafitec offer was influenced by the fact that Geoprint is a long-term user of printing machines from Dobruška, but we were mostly influenced by the low demands of the CtP Dimension 400 for the production area. The competition CtP systems and automatic developing machines need a lot more workspace,” said Mr. Josef Bílek, the manager of Geoprint and the brother of the company owner.

The average time for the turnover of an order is 48 hours. As a rule, the company does not print large volume orders. The Polly Prestige 474 printing machine is used in double shift production and the CtP Dimension 400 machine is operated for one prolonged shift. “Operation of the CtP is very easy. If the customer provides us with data then we are able to start printing within an hour,” says Josef Bílek.

Chemical-free technology

Anthem printing plates are used which are supplied to the printshop by KBA-Grafitec. The chemical-free preparation of the Anthem printing plates only need to be rinsed by water after laser exposure. In June, the CtP Dimension was enhanced by an A 660.5 Swasher from the production of the Czech company Interzich. The washer rinses the printing plates in vertical position which significantly lowers the demands for workspace. “ The originally designed washer form the Interzich company is ideal for us in respect to the demand for workspace. Any other solution would not be suitable for us,” stated Josef Bílek.

It was also obviously expected that the same supplier of the printing machine and the CtP would provide problem free compatibility and the connecting of the two devices into one whole, which enables the use of data from the pre-press for the presetting of the printing machine in SRB2 format. In relation to the average size of order the durability of the CtP Anthem printing plates is more than adequate.

“We were working on the last part of a printing publication that was originally printed on a machine manufactured by one of the world’s biggest brand names. The print quality on our Polly Prestige 474 machine with using the printing plates made on the CtP Presstek Dimension 400 was in the same top category,” Mr. Josef Bílek described the fact that the printing quality on the Polly Prestige 474 machine has increased by the purchase of the CtP.

Ing. Michal Janus, a Geoprint pre-press specialist appreciates the fact that the CtP Dimension 400 doesn’t require any special environment. “The small dimensions of the CtP Presstek and the Interzich automatic rinsing machine represents an effective solution for small and medium sized plants,” stated Ing. Janus.

After the first three months, the effect of purchasing the new CtP Presstek Dimension 400 in the Geoprint printshop is showing to be positive, foremost in the speed, the operation and in the print quality. The owner of Geoprint Mr. Jiří Bílek will evaluate the total effectiveness of implementing the CtP in his printshop after a longer time period of operation.