“Create the brand – one customer at a time”

From 1987 to 2004, Presstek was a technology provider partnering with the industry’s largest press manufacturers and distribution networks to deliver on press digital imaging enabled by its technology for exposure of polyester and metal backed litho plates using LED lasers. During this time Presstek DI (digital imaging) technology was implemented in presses from Adast, Ryobi, Heidelberg, Xerox, KBA, Scitex and Kodak. Although many of the DI presses were actually produced by a few manufacturers and sold through OEM agreements, significant among them were such presses as the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI introduced in 1995, the 74 Karat offset press jointly developed by KBA and Scitex, and Ryobi presses manufactured for several companies. In that era, Presstek was also the first to develop and bring to market chemistry-free CtP, and continues to be a leader in this area by providing both its own output CtP devices and chemistry-fee plates.

In 2004, Presstek acquired AB Dick and Precision Lithograining. The acquisition of Precision Lithograining allowed Presstek to strengthen its plate manufacturing capability and capacity. By acquiring ABDick, with its history of providing printing solutions over the past of 120 years and its large customer base of smaller printers, Presstek gained access to a direct sales and service force in an interesting and potentially imperiled segment of the market in Western countries. Now at a time when most manufactures have given up on DI presses and openly admit that this technology has not met their expectations of sales volumes, Presstek feels that that by emerging from behind the shadows of various offset and digital press manufacturers it can best leverage DI technologies. In addition it can expand the opportunity in environmentally friendly computer to plate and consumables.

Jeff Jacobson the former CEO of Kodak Polychrome Graphics joined Presstek in May 2007 and Presstek is clearly banking on his star power and can-do building strengths in challenging situations. As he himself said at the drupa preview in January, he is one of seven top management people who have joined Presstek in the last eleven months. The mission is very clearly to grow the business and the company from its current annual turnover of US$ 265 million. According to Jacobson the achievable market for DI is US$ 2 billion and the achievable market for CtP and consumables is of the order of US$ 5 billion. The plan according to him is to “Create the brand – one customer at a time.”

Presstek has been engaged for some time in building a two-tier sales channel structure for its DI, CtP, and traditional polyester CtP plate businesses. In its stand E55 in Hall 4 at drupa, Presstek will show its core competencies in plate technology, laser imaging, press design and workflow and system integration in its own products. These will include its fourth generation processless plates, its Pearl Profire for new generation DI presses and its Anthem Pro ablative plates.

At drupa it will demonstrate optimized 16 micron imaging on its own digital presses (still manufactured by Ryobi) that Presstek claims will generate a 20 per cent larger colour space than conventional offset as well 20 per cent better colour densities. For runs between 250 and 10,000 sheets, the company claims a 10 to 15 per cent cost saving for DI in comparison to conventional tower based presses. At drupa it will demonstrate both its 521DI that runs sheets of 520 x 375 mm at 10,00 sheets an hour and the 46 DI that runs sheets of 460 x 360 at 7,000 sheets an hour.

In the CtP realm Presstek will show the Vector TX52 16 plates an hour CtP at drupa, the Presstek Dimension Excel 2 and 4-page platesetter and the Dimension 450 4-page and Dimension 800 8-page platesetters. Also show will be the Presstek Momentum Pro integrated RIP and PDF workflow system designed to streamline and automate the production process using certified PDF tools. The workflow can be used as a centralized PDF creation and preflight system, ensuring consistent output to multiple devices for small to mid-size printers.

In the last two years Presstek has made a belated beginning in India and a couple of Presstek CtPs have been installed in South India. The company has recently appointed Sanjib Baruah to look after market development and ATE has been appointed the sales channel partner for India. Apparently printers are showing interest in buying Presstek DI presses. Let’s see who is first and if it actually happens before drupa.