The historic printer, founded in 1884, installed a Cron 36H in late January 2024, with the machine up and running in early February.

Supporting Ruddocks’ five-colour plus coating XL 75, the platesetter produces around 700 plates a month.

The firm decided to make the switch when it learned that support for its existing platesetter was set to end. Approaching supplier SOS, the Ruddocks team wanted to explore the market.

Ady Potter, production director, said the team’s first thought was to maintain quality standards and keep its workflow system running smoothly, assuming that meant going with more established brands.

He added, however, that SOS was insistent that the team try Cron’s machine.

Potter told Printweek: “They were keen that we travel out to see one of these machines – so we did our due diligence, and went out.

“We made the decision, and it suited our requirements: now, it's doing exactly what we want it to."

Slightly more productive with a smaller footprint, the Cron 36H slotted into Ruddocks’ Prinergy workflow software, with SOS’ team calibrating the machine to the press quickly.

Ruddocks still sees around 35% of its business in litho print, according to Potter, with the rest made up of digital work run through a pair of Canons, two Konica Minolta mono machines, and wide-format print, as well as the firm’s successful design studio and creative production work.

The company now also produces video, photography, web development, animation, events and merchandise, offering an end-to-end service for clients.

Ruddocks employs 40 staff, and will turn over around £3.5m this financial year.

Cron was founded in 1992 in Hangzhou, China, since growing rapidly to become one of Asia's largest CTP machine manufacturers.