The firm installed a Suprasetter 75 in January, in place of a seven-year-old rival device, nine months after its Speedmaster XL 75 five-colour plus coater perfecting press was installed.
When the XL 75-5-P+L arrived last April, Dargan also invested in Inpress Control and Prinect Prepress Manager to enable the company to "seamlessly" control colour during production.
Managing director Richard Traynor said that the Inpress Control on the XL 75 enabled the company to be more competitive in the commercial printing market. He added that customers had been impressed with the quality of the output from the XL 75.
Dargan has spent £1m on the entire Heidelberg investment, adding to a number of B3 GTOs and Polar guillotines already in place from the German manufacturer. Traynor said: "Now if anything goes wrong Heidelberg alone will be responsible and they are the best. One call does it all."
The press and thermal platesetter system replaced two aged Sakurai 4- and 5-colour presses and a Screen 4300 CTP. Dargan runs Saphira Chem-Free plates, recycles waste and opts for FSC-certified papers and suppliers wherever possible.
Dargan Press employs 19 staff at its 2,230sqm facility and has a turnover of around £2m. The company also offers gold foiling using its 40-year-old Heidelberg platen, a niche offering which Traynor believes is only offered by two other traders in the country.
