Suttle-Straus Installs Flatbed, Roll-to-Roll Printer

WAUNAKEE, WI—Feb. 18, 2013—Suttle-Straus Inc. reports the installation of a VUTEk GS3250 LX flatbed and roll-to-roll LED UV-curing printer, supplied and serviced by Heidelberg. The new VUTEk GS3250 LX, said to be the only LED machine installed within a 150-mile radius of Madison, WI, boasts higher image quality, an eight-color gamut plus two channels of white, and is more than twice as fast as the company’s next-most-productive grand-format machine.

While key elements of the purchase decision were capacity, redundancy, and throughput, access to Heidelberg expertise was decisive, said Director of Imaging Brett Keene.

“We liked the product and found it very stable,” Keene explained. “But once Heidelberg came into the mix, we saw the perfect marriage of capability and service,” including a generous parts and labor warranty.

“Heidelberg’s track record from the service side is very strong, and we had already gained considerable confidence in the company from our engagement with them on the finishing side,” he continued. (Suttle-Straus currently operates a variety of postpress equipment from Heidelberg.) “We tend to be very loyal to our vendors, so while we looked at other printers, we really had our minds made up to buy from Heidelberg. That’s really all there was to it. The GS3250 LX LED fit our needs, and we were buying from a trusted source. Heidelberg service is a recognizable positive for us.”

The new printer will support the company’s production of POP and display graphics for multi-location customers that Suttle-Straus already provides with conventional printing and fulfillment. In addition, Keene said, the GS3250 LED “will be of great benefit to us on the R&D side. We already are exploring opportunities to offer current and prospective customers new applications requiring cold-cure technology,” These include projects using thinner, heat-sensitive Styrenes, shrinkwrap, bubblewrap, athletic tape and more.

Suttle-Straus had been involved in digital wide format for a decade, before taking a “big leap” into the production level grand-format market about three years ago, Keene said. Today, while conventional print still represents the vast majority of its business, wide-format printing is a rapidly growing area for the company, which serves customers in the telecommunications, insurance, finance and gaming industries. Products range from temporary and permanent POP display graphics, to indoor and outdoor banners, to interior architecture, especially wall coverings featuring dimensional lettering and other specialty effects.

The purchase of the VUTEk GS3250 LED machine will ensure, in part, that the company “stays out ahead of the curve as the industry adopts this technology,” Keene said.

Source: Heidelberg