The Push to Stop four-colour machine with perfector will be installed in Gomer’s Llandysul, Wales plant over Christmas, during which time its current five-and-a-half-year-old Speedmaster XL 106 will be taken out. The news follows the consolidation of Gomer’s two divisions, Gomer Press and Lewis Printers, into one production site, which happened earlier this year.
The Gomer team searched the market extensively, visiting Heidelberg’s London showroom and an existing user of the press, with managing director Jonathan Lewis saying it was the quality of the sheets coming off the press and a recent upturn in uncoated work that were the main drivers behind the purchase, along with the service from Heidelberg.
The all-Heidelberg house, which recently invested in a new Versafire for its digital division, has also upgraded its Prinect workflow and brought in a new Polar pile-turner to replace one purchased in 2004.
“At the moment we coat a lot of stuff but certain customers don’t like coating because it can flatten the colour quite a lot and we have trouble with the sheets drying and that sort of thing so I’m sure it will be of benefit to us,” said Lewis.
“The ink is definitely going to cost a significant amount more than we’re currently spending but we’ll certainly recover that extra cost by having less issues on the folders, gatherers in the bindery and having a cleaner workspace on the folders.”
The 18,000sph-press is equipped with a number of Heidelberg’s Drupa-launched Push to Stop automation features, including Intellistart 2, Autoplate Pro, InkStar and Inpress Control 2 spectral measurement. It takes sheets at a maximum size of 750x1,100mm at a maximum thickness of 1mm.
Lewis felt that Gomer’s main client base, high-end publishers, will benefit from the extra quality, and can also take advantage of Gomers’ casemaking equipment, at what he said is the only Welsh printer offering casemaking.
“I’d like to be able to say after six months to a year of having put this in that quality is better and we won’t have to bother with coating and there are no issues in the bindery with marking,” he added.
“Increasing quality to clients is the root we want to go down and if we can get more of that work we can further utilise our casemaking equipment."
60-staff Gomer has sales of £4m and runs a variety of other finishing equipment, along with a Speedmaster SM 52.
