Wide-Format Offset Printer Sets the Bar for Service

In the 26 years since Annan & Bird Lithographers first opened its doors to the large-format print demands of the packaging and point-of-sale (POS) marketplace, the Mississauga, Ont.-based company has held fast to its mission: providing its customers with the highest-quality printed materials, delivered in the shortest time, with the most efficient equipment available.

At no time in its history has this dual commitment to quality and speed-to-market been more important than now, as VLF offset (for display work) faces a serious competitive challenge, both from the sheer number of large-format offset presses, as well as from the proliferation of digital flatbed devices with greater capacity for longer run lengths (greater than 500 and rising). When quality is not a factor, price certainly is, and the struggle to maintain or increase volume places companies like Annan & Bird at the center of a potentially awkward tug-of-war between the two.

Annan & Bird Lithographers is one of the leading large-format printers in Canada and a high-profile, high-impact force in the North American point-of-purchase (POP) display market. Specialties include POP/POS and posters; dimensional graphics, and fine art reproduction; as well as printed lenticular and special effects, and fulfillment. Founded by the Bird family in 1987, the company was acquired by Consolidated Graphics (CGX) in 2006.

No Rest for the ambitious

Given a difficult business environment—"Our sales were down this year but our workload was up," said John Bird, co-president of the company with his brother David—the biggest competitive task faced by printers like Annan & Bird is to add value by implementing efficiencies and keeping quality relentlessly high. In order to do this, Annan & Bird recently supplemented its lineup of 6-color 64˝ and 81˝ KBA Rapida hybrid UV presses—both equipped with Densitronic S closed-loop color control—with a new, 6-color, 64˝ Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 162 with aqueous coater, in service now for just over one year. The new press replaced a pair of 18-year-old, 57˝ Mitsubishi presses.

"The market has become very crowded, competitive, and price-sensitive," Bird explained, "In order to improve our ability to compete, we had no alternative but to invest in a high-performance, ultra-productive press to support our mission."

While Consolidated Graphics has made a considerable investment in digital technology over the past several years, Annan & Bird's purchase of a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 162 VLF series press represents not only a significant capital investment in the packaging market, but also proof of Consolidated Graphics' commitment to the offset market, based on quality, capacity, and efficiency.

"Everyone is chasing price," added David Bird. "Our ongoing challenge and chief competitive task is to add value by implementing efficiencies and providing the kind of quality you can't get with digital."

Nimble giant

A glance at the company's menu of products and services reveals the company's ability to pivot from high-quality, large-format offset display work to defect-free fine art reproductions in up to 14 colors, including a line of oversized Thomas Kinkade prints.

"We got into the fine art market more than 10 years ago," Bird said, "and we still produce prints, though not on a scale we used to pre-recession, when the demand for luxury items was higher."

On the POP/POS display side, Annan & Bird Lithographers is a recognized master of UV-enabled special effects printing, with capabilities ranging from matte and gloss coatings, to pearlescent inks, to dramatic reticulated and other UV coatings on "exotic" substrates including foil board, Styrene, and PVC vinyl, and a wide range of stocks from 80-lb. paper to 24-pt. board. "FX," one of the company's newest offerings, results from the printing of four colors plus silver to produce hundreds of bright metallic colors.

Another specialty is lenticular printing, a process that lends animated effects and 3D depth to two-dimensional color and black-and-white images printed on a specially prepared "lens." The result greatly enhances the impact of reflective or back-lit advertising, display, and promotional communications. Annan & Bird was one of the first printers in North America to boast this particular capability.

Maximum productivity

Although Annan & Bird performs virtually all of its special effects printing on its two existing large-format KBA presses, the company chose the new Speedmaster XL 162 specifically because of its ability to produce high quality work at fast speeds with minimal waste.

Key to this effort is Prinect Inpress Control, Heidelberg's in-line color measurement and control system, which takes density and spectrophotometric readings inline, while automatically maintaining color. Integrated directly into the last unit of the press, Inpress Control automatically measures and controls process colors, spot colors and register in the print control strip on the fly, at any speed. Corrections are forwarded directly to the Prinect Press Center for adjustment. With its ability to pull jobs quickly and accurately into color and register at 15,000 sph, the Speedmaster XL 162 achieves maximum productivity to meet Annan & Bird's most demanding deliveries.

In addition to Prinect Inpress Control, other key functions include a single-suction belt feeder for reliable sheet separation; simultaneous wash-up of the blanket and impression cylinders; and AutoPlate XL for fast plate changes in all units in less than 2.5 minutes.

Since the Speedmaster XL 162 was installed, a 4-color makeready is down from one hour to 15 minutes, while run speeds have risen from 8,000 sph to 15,000 sph on a regular basis. The new press has logged 16 million impressions over the one-year period since installation.

"Speed is a function of run length," Bird explained. "It depends on the potential time benefit you stand to gain. If you run 100 to 300 sheets at 15,000 sph, for example, the benefit is negligible, so you reserve the top speeds for your long-run work, where the time saved can be significant."

Faster makereadies and higher production speeds yield higher output only if a new press can be maintained and serviced efficiently. Via Heidelberg's Prinect Press Center, Annan & Bird will be able to access all press and peripheral information with Remote Service 24/7, enabling continued production while the press is being monitored by Heidelberg's "e-Call" self-monitoring system.

Just-in-time

No matter which of its presses is used to print a given job, close visual inspection occurs at every stage of production and post-processing on through to the shipping department, leaving nothing to chance. To optimize sheet layout and minimize waste, Annan & Bird does its own in-house sheeting with the aid of two Valmet sheeters capable of sheeting plastics, foils, synthetic papers, and boxboard up to 80˝ inches long and 0.040˝ thick. Due to the efficiencies of the new Speedmaster XL 162, any work that requires UV coating will be performed offline.

While Annan & Bird's average job turn time is five days, the presence of the Speedmaster XL 162 means the company now can mobilize quickly enough to fulfill next- and even same-day orders. For example, Bird said, the company recently received the files for a 145,000-sheet job on a Thursday, produced a proof the following morning, and ran the job (not including the weekend) in time to catch a Tuesday truck for delivery to the customer in California three days later, within a week of the original order.

Subsequent to installation of the XL 162, the company took advantage of Heidelberg's Print Color Management service (PCM), a color consultation program designed to promote maximum color fidelity; and Prinect Performance Benchmarking, which will enable Annan & Bird to determine whether or not its Speedmaster XL 162 is performing below, at, or above the average production of its peer group.

Passion for customer service

Capabilities aside, and noting Annan & Bird's relentless focus on quality and speed-to-market, the company also measures its success in what it terms "tangible benefits" that will help drive its customers' businesses forward.

"We see ourselves as an extension of our customers," said Bird. "In addition to manufacturing the printed materials, we work with our suppliers to develop coatings and inks to make sure our printed materials perform well in customer applications." This is the case especially with respect to the rub resistance of aqueous coatings in post-processing operations like lamination, guillotine, and diecutting, folding, gluing, and shipping and handling. In an effort to guarantee problem-free converting, the company uses only materials engineered specifically for the converting process, especially litho-lam applications.

On the prepress side, the company offers customers a variety of tools designed to keep jobs moving through the workflow with a minimum of disruption, including Web-based PDF proofing and online annotation. The company, which also is G7-qualified for its Kodak Approval and Epson 9900 digital proof-to-press, encourages clients to submit G7-qualified files to expedite their progress.

Leadership

Over the years, Annan & Bird's outsized ambitions have made it something of a bellwether in the industry. Founded in 1987 with a single 44˝ x 60˝ 5-color Harris press and 12 employees, the family-run business by 2007 had acquired a fleet of large-format presses and a lengthy client list. Today, the company boasts a staff of 100 employees, a reputation for ethical business practices, and an indelible record of technological leadership. Annan & Bird ships product throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In 2006, Annan & Bird was acquired by Consolidated Graphics, one of the leading commercial printing companies in the United States. While Consolidated Graphics has made a considerable investment in digital technology over the past several years, Annan & Bird's purchase of a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 162 VLF series press represents not only a significant capital investment in the packaging market, but proof of CGX's commitment to the offset market, based on quality, capacity, and efficiency. pP