Edward Enterprises Inc., an employee-owned company in Honolulu, Hawaii, recently installed three digital presses -two Versafire CMs and a Versafire EP- of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) as an affordable solution to expand the company’s capacity.

Significant Improvement of Quality 

When it was time for Edward Enterprises Inc. to replace its competitive digital press, it looked at every option on the market to the find the perfect match. Now printing with a new toner formula and an image resolution of 4,800 x 2,400 dpi, the Versafire EP stood out amongst other manufacturers’ digital equipment for its advancements in quality and color. According to Sanford Morioka, Vice President of Sales at Edward Enterprises Inc.,

“We looked at the Versafire press in the past, but the machine just wasn’t up to our standard for our color variable data printing needs. When we looked at the Versafire EP this time, we were completely stunned with the improvements in quality and speed on the press. Plus, knowing it was backed by Heidelberg was a huge win for us.”

Running at speeds up to 135 letter pages per minute, the Versafire EP supports 24 point stock plus a variety of synthetics. According to Morioka, “The Versafire EP gives us more flexibility by being able to use more paper stocks than our previous press. It also gives us more output while still being more affordable than other equipment on the market.”

The digital press includes a variety of advanced technologies including high-precision inline registration, which actively controls every sheet so that it is steered and adjusted automatically. Additionally, the in-line sensor system on the Versafire EP color calibrates the engine automatically by measuring the registration target, feeding the information back in the machine, and adjusting, which makes this press simple to use for all printers.

The Cost Efficient Solution to Variable Printing

Edward Enterprises was also in need of a new black and white digital press after reaching capacity on its previous equipment. Printing at up to 135 images per minute, the two Versafire CMs will allow the company to significantly increase its output while printing at a quality of 1,200 x 4,800 dpi. With a double toner cartridge bay, the Versafire CM takes care for stable production and high availability thanks to its 8,850 sheets per tray capacity.

The two Versafire CMs will primarily focus on variable printing and will complement the company’s Heidelberg sheetfed presses, which include a Speedmaster XL 75, Speedmaster SM 52, and Speedmaster CD 102. According to Morioka, “Typically, on larger volume runs, we print our static color elements of a job on our sheetfed press, and then we’ll send it over to our Versafire CM for the personalization. This is the most cost efficient way for us to do black and white variable data printing.”

As a full Heidelberg shop, Edward Enterprises also uses Prinect and Saphira Consumables and has an Easygluer 100 folder-gluer and POLAR 115 high-speed cutter. The company finds great relief in having all of its equipment backed by Heidelberg.

“Since everything is in the same workflow, whether it’s digital or offset, it’s really helped streamline our production flow here,” said Morioka. “Everything is supported by Heidelberg, which gives us confidence in our day-to-day abilities. We can now rely completely on one company, which is important to us.”

With a total of three Heidelberg Versafire digital printing systems, Edward Enterprises increases its digital production volume with small or variable print runs in color and black-and-white printing.