12th January 2012
Fujifilm’s Brillia HD PRO-T3 plate dramatically
reduces water and chemistry usage at Severnprint
Gloucester based Severnprint was founded in 1977 as a two-colour B2
print company. It was one of the first print companies in the UK to move
into digital plate processing in the early 90s, establishing a digital
production department in the late 90s. Today its pressroom houses both
five and six colour Komori presses, two and four colour Heidelberg 74
presses, a CD – 74 five colour with coater and a two colour GTO.
The company also has a comprehensive finishing department, digital
design offering, large format department and a mailing house. In line with
the changing times and its desire to stay at the forefront of its customer
offering, in the last 12 months it has also started to provide a more
integrated approach, helping to coordinate email marketing and other
cross media campaigns to complement the printed matter it produces.
The majority of Severnprint’s customers are B2B manufacturing
companies, many of these international. The print that Severnprint
produces is therefore often in many languages and distributed direct from
the Gloucester premises around the world.
Ever since its inception, Severnprint’s founders have been particularly
interested in the environment, and how the printing processes employed
at the company can work as harmoniously as possible with nature. It was
one of the very first companies in the UK to recycle waste, some years
before its counterparts, and has always been at the forefront of
environmental best practice. It is both FSC and ISO 14001 accredited,
and once again was one of the first companies in the UK to achieve this
standard.
In a move to become even more environmentally friendly, Severnprint
decided to use processless plates and negate the use of water in its
printing processes. In addition, it has also recently completely stopped
using alcohol.
This year, Severnprint has been heavily involved in the trials of Fujifilm’s
brand new Brillia HD PRO-T3 plates. Andy Thomas, senior printer & print
room team leader explains:
“We have always been very impressed with PRO-T, becoming one of the
early adopters of processless technology when it was first launched, and
we’ve been eagerly awaiting the new version to trial on press. We’ve now
been using PRO-T3 for a couple of months and the quality and stability of
the plate is excellent. The make-ready time is exceptionally short and after
just eight sheets of printing, the press is ready to go. This plate really does
a fantastic job, and is also now comparable in price with other plates.
We’ve been producing runs of up to 50,000 with PRO-T3 with no issues at
all. I think it’s an absolutely wonderful plate.
“In the twelve months prior to moving over to processless plates we used
494,300 litres of water across our printing processes. After switching
across, we reduced our water usage by over 70%, which has obviously
made a huge difference to us. As there’s no processor or finishing unit
required, with the plate going straight from platesetter to press, we’re
making huge savings with regards to chemistry too. Not only do we no
longer need to buy any of the chemistry associated with a processor or
finishing unit, but we don’t have any toxic waste to dispose of either,
something which strongly supports our environmental ethos.”
Brillia HD PRO-T3 is a processless plate that eliminates the processor,
chemistry, gum and water used in the conventional plate production
process, the plate being taken straight from the platesetter onto the press.
PRO-T3 is also unique in the recent breed of plate production systems
designed to reduce chemistry consumption, in that platesetter productivity
and quality are not compromised (it is rated at 1-99% resolution and
capable of FM20 screening). This means PRO-T3 represents the fastest
way of getting a plate on-press, and all the variables associated with
processors and finishing units, including the time and labour involved with
their maintenance, are eliminated.
The summer issue of Fujifilm’s customer magazine Print! was produced
using PRO-T3 plates at the Severnprint premises.
ENDS
About FUJIFILM Corporation
FUJIFILM Corporation is one of the major operating companies of FUJIFILM
Holdings. Since its founding in 1934, the company has built up a wealth of
advanced technologies in the field of photo imaging, and in line with its efforts to
become a comprehensive healthcare company, Fujifilm is now applying these
technologies to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the
Medical and Life Science fields. Fujifilm is also expanding growth in the highly
functional materials business, including flat panel display materials, and in the
graphic systems and optical devices businesses.
About Fujifilm Graphic Systems
Fujifilm Graphic Systems is a stable, long term partner focussed on delivering
high quality, technically advanced print solutions that help printers develop
competitive advantage and grow their businesses. The company’s financial
stability and unprecedented investment in R&D enable it to develop proprietary
technologies for best-in-class printing. These include pre-press and pressroom
solutions for offset, wide-format and digital print, as well as workflow software for
print production management. Fujifilm is committed to minimising the
environmental impact of its products and operations, proactively working to
preserve the environment, and strives to educate printers about environmental
best practice. For more information, visit www.fujifilm.co.uk/gs
For further information contact:
Joanna Muggeridge/Elni Stofberg
AD Communications
E: [email protected] / [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)1372 464470
Renée Rothchild
Fujifilm
E: [email protected]
T: +44 (0)1234 572340