TM is set to achieve another DI first by becoming the first site in Europe to install its second Heidelberg Speedmaster 74 DI.


The new machine will join the Peckham-based firms original one in May.


TM was the first UK site for the 74 DI, which was installed last March and running digitally in the summer.


DI is the only way for us to do our work on time, said production director Bob Thorpe. Fulfilment houses dont stock anything so it really is print-on-demand.


TM produces DVD and video inlays, posters and point-of-sale work for several entertainment firms. Since it installed the first 74 DI it has increased the amount of work from regular customers and won a new account.


DI has been a selling tool. We couldnt meet customers lead times without it, said Thorpe. We didnt want to be dependent on one press, and the volume of work were getting means we can fill two.


The second press is another six-colour machine. The 1m deal includes CPC 2000 for both machines.


TMs second machine is the eighth SM 74 DI ordered in the UK. Its been a great success story for us, said Heidelberg UK marketing manager Sascha Fischer.


Its the ideal application for DI. The great thing for us is that TM has based almost its entire business model around the Speedmaster 74 DI.


At the moment TM is leasing a conventional Speedmaster 74 to augment the DI and to produce runs that are beyond the Heidelberg Saphira plates used on the DI. When the second DI is installed and the plate issues are sorted out it will be entirely DI.


Story by Barney Cox