Merton based OK 2 Print wanted to reduce overheads and improve environmental performance with PRO-T

OK 2 Print have customers who are keen to work with an environmentally friendly supplier. This is particularly true of some local councils who now stipulate that their suppliers must have sound environmental credentials. By moving to PRO-T, the company have improved their environmental performance, reduced overheads and benefitted from further savings in time and cost from not needing to purchase and dispose of chemicals.

Established in 1998, OK 2 Print is a B2 commercial printer based in Merton, London. OK 2 Print offers print solutions to local councils and authorities throughout London including OK 2 Print's local borough, Epsom Borough Council. Other commercial customers include PC Werth, a leading hearing aid company, and many local businesses. It also produces a lot of recycling-focused work for marketing and design agency, Hey Moscow.

The majority of the company's work is submitted by design agencies, although OK 2 Print also works directly with clients. It produces a wide range of print from magazines, catalogues and brochure work, to direct mail pieces and flyers. The B2 printer provides short-to-medium run sheet-fed commercial work on both its Heidelberg B2 and B3 presses.

Over the past nine years, OK 2 Print has been outputting film and plates in-house but recently has installed a Screen thermal Platerite 4100 platesetter, making the move to processless technology with Fujifilm's Brillia HD PRO-T thermal processless plates.

Kevin Newman, owner and managing director at OK 2 Print, comments: "We wanted to wait until processless technology was a commercial reality. We are a small team and we had to be absolutely sure that any new technology installed was fully tried and tested. We received some excellent advice from our dealer, Service Offset Supplies Ltd, who recommended the Screen platesetter with Fujifilm plates as the best solution for the type of printer we are and the type of work we print."

Greener and busier

Kevin Newman continues: "At OK 2 Print we have customers who are keen to work with an environmentally friendly supplier. This is particularly true of some local councils who now stipulate that their suppliers must have sound environmental credentials, so moving to a more streamlined and eco-friendly way of working was a natural and necessary progression for us. We wanted to reduce our overheads and, by using PRO-T, with the savings in time and cost from not needing to purchase and dispose of chemicals, even a relatively compact set-up like ours can take advantage of the latest environmentally friendly technology.

"By moving to processless, we are now saving at least two hours per day. For a busy, tight business like ours, that extra time is extremely valuable and profitable. With Fujifilm's PRO-T plates and the new platesetter we are easily able to produce a higher quality printed product. Word has spread that our quality and job turnaround speed has significantly increased and that our printing is now more environmentally friendly. The end result is that we are far busier.

"We are no longer storing plates for reprint work as it is just as easy and cost-effective to make a new plate. Since using PRO-T, the quality of our printed work is so much better - there are no spots or background marks and the press runs much cleaner than before. Also by cutting the costs of the chemicals from the filmsetter and the processor we are saving £600 per year.

"The new system has also given us peace of mind as it's incredibly robust and reliable and so in turn, we are more confident about taking on more work. Currently we manually load the plates but we have the option to automate if needed, which gives us even more scope.

"The Fujifilm plates are incredibly easy to use and have a really quick makeready time with virtually no waste. We have printed 110,000 copies on one set of plates - for that particular job, we printed 55,000 impressions, took the plates off, gummed them and then carried on with them.

"By switching to Fuji it's been a win - win situation. Our clients are getting higher quality, more environmentally friendly print and we are benefiting through better working practices that have made us more streamlined and busier, resulting in increased profitability.