Litho or digital decision for Scottish print company

There has been much recent advancement in digital printing, but investing in digital kit may not be the way to go for all printing companies. Let’s for example, consider a printing company in East Kilbride who are involved with printing magazines and brochures, which need to make decisions about investing in new machinery. Clearly, the type of print work which the company handles will play a large part in any investment decisions. However, it may be useful for such a company to consider the decision made by Glasgow based Cowan Print.

Cowan Print, in business since 1987, employs six staff and handles commercial print. Typically magazine, brochure and stationery runs. Cowan came to the conclusion that installing a Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 52-5 was the better option for them. They figured that short runs would prove economical because the machine features an in line dryer. MD Craig Cowan said:

With a dryer, we can cost effectively handle 16 page magazine runs of 200 -300 copies. We can be competitive on a litho machine.

The company had a small digital machine but it did not deliver the quality compared to a litho machine. Mr. Cowan stated:

To compete on quality you have to spend a lot of money on a digital machine

So, the decision was made to replace their old four colour Heidelberg with the new five colour SM 52-5. The fifth unit carries a fifth colour and can also be used for sealing and metalics. Clearley the right decision for them.