Battlefield Graphics of Burlington, Ontario, over the past two years been enhancing its production platform through a multi-million-dollar investment in new equipment, centred around the installation of a Heidelberg Speedmaster XL-106-7+L press. The commercial printer, established in 1964, has also added a Heidelberg Versafire CV, Promatrix 106 CS and Polar System 2. Battlefield currently employs 60 people in two locations.
These four major capital-equipment investments were put into service throughout 2016. The Heidelberg Speedmaster XL-106 is capable of producing conventional and UV print jobs at 18,000 impressions per hour. It is equipped with IST UV curing technology; Inpress Control, an automated colour and register system; AutoPlate Pro for fully automated plate changing; and the Prinect Press Center with Intellistart.
To leverage the Speedmaster XL-106 and provide unique finishing for its high-end print work, Battlefield also invested in a Promatrix 106 CS die-cutting system. “We can provide so much more with this machine, regardless of the substrate we are working with,” said Jerry Theoret, President and CEO of Battlefeild. “It is a whole new offering for us.” The die-cutting system joins another new investment in a Polar System 2 cutter, and Battlefield’s existing Stahl folding systems.
As part of its investment plan, Battlefield also installed a Heidelberg Versafire CV press capable of printing 90 pages per minute. The toner-based system is equipped to apply a fifth colour – clear or opaque white – to Versafire’s printed sheets. “We are also using it for proofing,” said Matt Theoret, Production Manager. “The Versafire is part of the Prinect workflow, utilizing the DFE RIP from Heidelberg and colour management to our offset operation. [It] is really accurate and easy for our prepress to work with.”
Battlefield has been entrenched in long perfecting and UV printing since 2004 when it became the first printing company in North America to install a Heidelberg Speedmaster SM-102-12P, which primarily produced 6/6 colour catalogues for demanding sectors like automotive. This press joined a Heidelberg CD-102-6+L with UV. Battlefield was an early adopter of printing with UV techniques like opaque whites and spot-gloss effects, often on unique substrates like metallics and clear poly sheets.
“UV printing is a very important part of our business, therefore, we needed to produce UV faster and complete more tasks in one pass, and decrease our turnaround times to our customers,” said Matt Theoret, describing Battlefield’s new investment in the Heidelberg Speedmaster XL-106. “This press can output highly critical mutli-colour and specialized jobs as it were a simple 4-colour process job.”
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