Prepress

PCP waves the Fujifilm flag

Thursday 25. October 2012 - PCP, based in Telford, Shropshire, needs little introduction. The Private Limited Company, which forms part of the Claverley Group, was established as a pre-print provider for a range of newspapers in 1963, and after 15 years progressed into providing commercial print. Its clients comprise a range of the leading names in the publishing and print management industries, including Dennis Publishing, Advanstar, Webmart and Thinkprint.

Fast forwarding 35 years, PCP now boasts 263 employees and a turnover of £33 million per annum, and has been named the APA’s printer of choice. It also has a number of top industry awards under its belt, which can largely be attributed to the company maintaining stringent quality standards and processes.
Since 2000, PCP’s plant list has grown significantly to include a MAN Roland Rotoman, Komori System 38, Twin Goss Universal 35, Heidelberg 10 unit B1 Perfector and Mitsubishi presses, a range of Fujifilm’s equipment and XMF Workflow in its pre-press department, and a comprehensive finishing department.
Springtime
In 2009, PCP decided to review its carbon footprint, a topic that is high on the company’s agenda – evidence of which is the ISO 14001 certification it has already achieved. This exercise included speaking to Fujifilm about its service offering to help PCP lower its environmental impact, after which it decided to trial the Brillia HD PRO-V low chemistry plate.
PCP’s Warren Irving, technical director, says: “The majority of our customers are as environmentally driven as us, and we are proud of the ongoing measures we take to minimise our carbon footprint. At the time, Fujifilm was the only manufacturer that could offer us a low chemistry plate option, so we decided to trial PRO-V with its Luxel V-8 HD platesetter and we were delighted with the results.”
Producing around 3000 plates per week for its presses that run 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, PCP subsequently invested in three Luxel V-8 HD platesetters from Fujifilm together with the Brillia HD PRO-V plates.
Warren continues: “From day one, we could see the enormous benefits of deciding to work with Fujifilm. The Brillia HD PRO-V plates run perfectly over our entire range of run lengths and only produce 20% of the waste compared to the conventionally processed plates we used before. Chemistry usage has been reduced by almost 80%, and minimal downtime is required for cleaning – something that is very important to us given that we produce around 1,000 plates per processor every week.”
Summer
As part of the discussions in 2009, PCP became one of a select few print service providers around the world to partner with Fujifilm to test and provide input on the development of XMF Workflow, the only workflow built from the ground up around the Adobe PDF Print Engine. Since using XMF Workflow, PCP has been able to shorten its turnaround times and improve productivity.
“From day one, we were impressed with what XMF Workflow could offer us, and working closely with Fujifilm meant that we could get the maximum benefit out of this unique offering,” says Warren. “The speed at which the workflow processes files is fantastic, with colour management something we don’t need to worry about at all. And, as XMF is built around the APPE, we can be confident that we will be able to stay ahead with any new developments from Adobe, while linking to our MIS system is easy as all impositions are JDF compliant.”
During the ongoing development process, PCP started testing and using XMF Remote, Fujifilm’s remote proofing module. The positive impact of offering this service to its customers was immediately apparent: “We were impressed with the ease of use and the opportunity it gave us to offer even shorter turnaround times to our customers, so we approached a few of them to see if they agree,” continues Warren.
“As XMF Remote allows our customers to upload their files at any time of day, and then automatically runs the files through XMF Workflow to check the imposition, returning a virtual copy for customer approval, they were naturally delighted with the idea of starting to use it on a regular basis.”
Since including XMF Remote as part of the service offering to its customers, it has quickly become a key part of PCP’s pre-press process, now with 80% of the average 2000 pages it processes per day being submitted through the system. PCP has also developed a detailed step-by-step guide and has a dedicated pre-press manager available to assist customers with using this service – just another measure that attests to the company’s commitment to its customers.
Warren continues: “There are so many benefits to using XMF Remote; it allows customers to upload their files in a very secure manner – something that is of utmost importance to a number of them – and immediately highlights any mistakes in the files, which is great for shortening turnaround times, and end users are able to see a three dimensional rendered copy of their order before final approval. And, as we rarely need to produce any hard copy proofs anymore, this naturally has a big impact on our environmental footprint too.”
All-year-round
“Fujifilm has demonstrated that it not only provides top quality products, but also listens to its customers’ needs. This is exactly what we offer our customers too and therefore look for in our partners,” concludes Warren. “We are proud to be associated with the strength and stability of the Fujifilm brand, and look forward to continuing this close relationship with them.”