“For us, being a forward-looking company means continuously reviewing and advancing our print production processes,” says Headley CEO Roger Pitt. “Pre-press has become more important than ever. By 2014, we knew we needed to enhance our capabilities further in that area to drive production efficiencies, optimise our workflow and streamline costs.”
Workflow automation was a natural next step, says Headley, and they chose Fujifilm’s Superia solution, a customisable package of pre-press solutions that includes Fujifilm’s XMF Workflow, printing plates and other consumables.
“We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Fujifilm, and place great trust in their products and people,” elaborates Pitt. “Fujifilm’s Superia package met our exacting demands, addressing our automation needs, increasing our plate imaging capability and helping us make essential water savings. The fact that it could be provided and serviced by one supplier – from plates to platesetters to workflow – was an added bonus.”
Headley replaced two manual CTP devices on its second plate production line with Fujifilm’s Screen Ultima 1600 II multi-format VLF thermal platesetter, including a scalable autoloader – a key element in efficient handling of large format plates. “We put the platesetters through some stringent tests and were impressed by the stability of the technology,” adds Pitt. “It also meant we could share the same plate material for our web and sheetfed machines, ensuring cross-line output consistency.”
The company also selected the water-saving option for its two existing Fujifilm FLH-Z ‘ZAC’ processors, which enabled it to reduce its water usage by 16 litres per plate produced, with projected savings of more than two million litres of water over the next five years. In addition, two XR-1200F developer waste reduction and re-use systems were installed with the processors to further reduce water usage as well as pre-press developer waste.
The investment also involved enhancing the company’s existing XMF Workflow production suite. XMF Remote was upgraded to HTML 5, meaning its customers no longer need to rely on Java-based applications to benefit from the online job submission and approval system. The colour management process was also upgraded via an investment in XMF ColorPath, a cloud-based system hosted by Fujifilm that allows calibration, ICC profiling and alignment to ISO 12647 for a wide range of print devices, as well as two Epson Stylus Pro proofers from Fujifilm.
“This investment completely automated our front-end systems, which has not only enabled us to be more efficient in our plate-making processes, but across the business as a whole – we’re now 30 per cent more efficient,” states Pitt.
He concludes: “Our focus on saving water demonstrates not only our move towards optimum production and cost-efficiency, but also our tireless commitment to reducing our environmental impact. Our ongoing partnership with Fujifilm ensures we continue to raise the bar and deliver the high quality products and service our customers expect. Fujifilm is not a ‘one night stand’ but a long-term relationship where both parties speak the same language and share the same vision for Headley’ future.”
