The five-colour press with coater will replace a five-colour Speedmaster 74 and complement its digital arsenal, which includes a recently installed HP Indigo.

The 30-staff printer, based in the Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave, is transforming the business into a “print, store and dispatch company to an on-demand print service”, said owner Frank Hilliard.

He said the Heidelberg investment came from a need for efficiency in the pressroom.

“With today’s turnaround times, you print in the morning and deliver in the afternoon so you need a super-efficient machine,” he said.

“We chose the XL 75 with coater because it will allow us to maintain our quality mandate and at the same time turn around work very quickly.”

Hilliard said because 20% of the work it warehoused went to waste, moving to an on-demand model would help reduce wastage, while the coater will also help Eastern Press improve its workflow.

“We operate in the medium- to high-quality print space and often produce jobs that require heavy ink coverage,” said Hilliard.

“Without a coater, these jobs have to be left overnight to dry before we can do anything with them. We anticipate the XL 75 with coater will speed up the process considerably.”

Alastair Hadley, general manager for sales and marketing at Heidelberg Australia & New Zealand, described the installation as a positive sign for the industry.

“People are constantly reading about printers closing down and they are starting to think the industry is stuffed,” he said.

“The way Eastern Press are doing things is a real moral boost for printers.”

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