Companies Weigh In on Heidelberg's Speedmaster CD 102 with X-Package

KENNESAW, GA—September 22, 2014—How do you make a great press even better? Just ask the growing number of commercial and packaging printers across the United States that have placed orders for the new and improved Speedmaster CD 102 with X-Package, Heidelberg’s most recent offering in the 40” sheetfed press category.

Already the most popular 40” press in the world, Heidelberg’s Speedmaster CD 102 boasts more than 9,000 installations worldwide. Each year, more CD 102 units are built than all other competitive 40” models combined. Newly enhanced with more than 12,500 new components, many incorporated from Heidelberg’s proven XL format, the Speedmaster CD 102 with X-Package increases productivity up to 50 percent over older-generation CD 102s and new competitive press models. It also offers the best price-to-performance ratio in its class.

Mid-York Press in Sherburne, New York, a $12-15 million pharmaceutical packaging specialist focusing on cartons and inserts, views the six-color Speedmaster CD 102 with X-Package it will install this November as a perfect companion to the UV-capable Speedmaster CX 102 the company purchased in 2011—the first U.S. customer to do so.

According to President and CEO Bob Tenney, “When we first looked at the CX 102, we were intrigued by the Preset Plus Delivery and fast set-up times. It was an equally important consideration in our decision to purchase the CD 102 with X-Package. Makeready reductions are more important to us than machine speed, since we typically handle up to 15 short runs averaging 4100 sheets during an 18-hour shift.” In addition, “We already have hundreds of thousands of dollars in repeat plates we’ll be able to run interchangeably on both the CX and the new CD 102,” Tenney said. “We also placed a great deal of emphasis on substrate flexibility, since we run everything from flimsy 33-lb. paper to 24-pt. board on a regular basis.”

The new press—Mid-York’s sixth six-color Heidelberg—will replace the company’s existing 2008 Speedmaster CD 102.

A commercial print and marketing services provider and fine art publisher of high-quality art prints and companion pieces, Orlando, Florida-based SunDance Marketing Solutions will upgrade from its existing 40” press to a Speedmaster CD 102 with X-Package later this year. Director of Operations JohnHenry Ruggieri said he welcomes the new CD 102’s ability to handle a range of substrates from 50-lb. stock to 24-pt. board and higher, and expects that color management via Prinect Image Control will minimize color fluctuations and enable the company to work with standardized, reproducible color values at all times. Thanks to the Preset Plus Delivery and highly automated components of the new press, he said,“We’ll be able to do what we do now—and more—in less time.” To lock in these and other advantages, the company also will install a thermal Suprasetter A106 CtP system with automatic cassette loader to image Heidelberg Saphira plates both for the new CD 102, as well as for a pair of Printmaster QM 46 machines installed to help the company meet the growing demand for small-format offset work.

“Heidelberg’s reputation for quality and customer service and support were also extremely important to the purchase decision,” Ruggieri said. “We expect to achieve an extremely favorable price-to-performance ratio.”

Jack Stoughton, president of Stoughton Printing in City of Industry, California, explained his company’s critical need for a press that would enable the company to meet the “exploding” demand for vinyl record packaging. The niche market has been a company specialty for 50 years, together with CD and DVD boxes, litho labels, folding cartons, POP displays, and a wide range of commercially printed items from blister cards and catalogs to game boards, sports and trading cards, and posters.

With its new-generation Speedmaster CD 102-6+L 2X with X Package (the first of its kind in the North, Central or South American markets), Stoughton said, “Our mission will be to offer our customers faster turn times,”—a key requirement for Stoughton’s hit-conscious customers—“and be able to produce materials that are simultaneously as good as, but also more durable than, the originals.” To accomplish this, he said, “We’ll use a battery of new technologies—pre-press, inks, coatings, paper—that didn’t exist in the mid-1960s, all while keeping the colors vivid and true to the originals.”

The company is confident that the new CD 102’s shorter makereadies, higher running speeds and excellent color control will enable it to satisfy a buying public that “wants that hit album now. If it isn’t available, they are likely to choose another selection that is.”

The new Speedmaster CD 102’s “incredible flexibility” also will give Stoughton the freedom to work with thin papers, heavy board, foils and odd specialty substrates up to 40-pt. thickness. The company will be trading in a pair of aging SM 102’s—a five-color perfecting press with coater and a straight six-color with coater—to accommodate the new machine, which is expected to be installed in October.

The new CD 102 with X-Package is targeted to commercial and packaging printers requiring maximum flexibility in the substrates they use. Equipment supplied as standard includes the Preset Plus Feeder and Preset Plus Delivery, AutoPlate, and Prinect Press Center with Intellistart press control, together with a closed-loop spectrophotometer for precise color management. The new Speedmaster CD 102 can be integrated fully into the Prinect workflow and also can be connected to the Prinect Image Control color measuring system for even greater color management, including the ability to work on multiple press models within a single shop.