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Micropress has invested in the UK’s first HEIDELBERG Jetfire 50, which was chosen after a rigorous selection process involving several suppliers
Micropress has announced its investment in the UK's first HEIDELBERG Jetfire 50, with the aim of strengthening the commercial printer’s growing digital inkjet print offering.
Micropress reportedly selected HEIDELBERG and the Jetfire 50 after a rigorous selection process involving several leading suppliers.
The latest Jetfire press is designed to integrate seamlessly with HEIDELBERG’s Prinect workflow portal, with the aim of improving efficiency through automation.
Part of HEIDELBERG’s latest generation of inkjet technology, the Jetfire 50 is designed to offer high-speed performance and exceptional image quality.
Micropress was also the first UK company to purchase the drupa 2024 model of HEIDELBERG’s Speedmaster XL 106-8P.
Speaking of the purchase, Rob Cross, joint managing director at Micropress, says: “We first invested in inkjet technology at the start of 2024, and it has proved extremely successful for us.
“In fact, we’ve now reached capacity. We needed an additional machine to cope with growing demand, and the Jetfire 50 fits that need perfectly.”
Speaking of the process of purchasing the machine, Cross says: “It was a very competitive process. We have excellent relationships with all our existing partners who do a great job for us. But this time, HEIDELBERG came up with a package that really ticked all the boxes. The decision was shaped by a combination of technology, reliability, and service reputation.”
According to Cross, the digital inkjet area of the business had become a bottleneck in recent months, which the Jetfire investment directly tackled. “There’s also genuine excitement about being early adopters of the Jetfire 50 and pride in being the first UK business to bring it online,” Cross adds.
The Jetfire 50 will play a critical role in supporting the upcoming launch of Press Print, Micropress’s new online print platform. Scheduled to go live soon, Press Print is a new channel designed to make it easier for customers to order what they need, when they need it.
HEIDELBERG also recently announced the launch of two new computer-to-plate (CtP) automation solutions integrated into a single line, with the release of its new Compact Pallet Loader (CPL) and Compact Bender.
In conjunction with the Suprasetter 106/A106 platesetter models, the CPL enables fully automatic loading of printing plates into the systems.
Integration into the Prinect workflow also means the CPL supplies the CtP system with printing plates fully autonomously, in line with the job structure.
The new Compact Bender plate bending system concludes the fully automated processing of the offset plates at the end of the process.
When combined with an optional barcode recognition function, the system makes it possible to supply the plates required for the printing process – pre-sorted according to printing press, job, and plate set – without any manual intervention whatsoever.
Earlier this year, Print Monthly published a deep dive on the HEIDELBERG Jetfire 50 in an Under the Hood special. A Company Spotlight celebrating the company’s 175th anniversary was also released in recent months.
