The B1 press was delivered on 26 March and final tests are taking place this week, with commissioning set for later in the month. According to director Matt Galloway, the press will be fully up-and-running after Easter.
The CX 102 replaces an 11-year-old Speedmaster XL 105 and represents the final stage of an ongoing investment and enhancement period for Poynton, Cheshire-based Galloways, which previously installed a Versafire EP digital printer from Heidelberg and linked up its Tharstern MIS and GMG colour server through the Prinect workflow all as part of the same initiative.
“With our previous Speedmaster starting to slow down to 30-minute makeready times, we knew something needed to be done,” said Galloway. “We looked out to market but found once again that Heidelberg was the perfect fit and the CX 102 can make ready in six minutes.
“An overhaul across our plant in the past 18 months or so has seen us move into closed-loop automation where before our devices and software were not quite so connected. I think efficiency is paramount as customers care less now about what presses you are running and more about whether quality and speed can be maintained or improved.
“Overall, we really have changed everything at Galloways. Now it is a matter of consolidating, bedding all the new technology in and working to the best we can before we start analysing the business again.”
Despite considering B2 digital technology, Galloways elected to take the CX 102 so as to be “sticking to what we know in B1” while introducing technological enhancements to its offering. It runs at a maximum speed of 16,500sph and comes with Intellistart 2 and Inpress Control for full automation.
While Galloway said his team would be familiar with the mechanics of the CX 102, having long been familiar with Heidelberg devices, the increased automation and leaps forward in technology are set to be addressed with a 20-day training period.
Galloways offers services spanning litho, digital and wide-format print, as well as direct mail and web-to-print, pre-press, repro and finishing. It turns over £3.5m and operates off 2,323sqm floorspace which runs kit including a Speedmaster CD 102, a Ricoh Pro C751 and a Mimaki CJV130.
