California Shop Adds CTP/Press Combo

Ad in IPG inspires Allan Hancock College in-plant to buy a CTP system.

Before installing a Glunz & Jensen PlateWriter 2000 in April, Gordon Rivera admits he didn’t know much about Glunz & Jensen. Then the coordinator of Campus Graphics at Allan Hancock College picked up his favorite graphic arts magazine, and everything changed.

“I saw the Glunz & Jensen ad in your magazine,” he says, referring to IPG, “so I gave them a call...and I ended up buying it.”

Previously, the four-employee Santa Maria, Calif.-based in-plant had been buying film outside, then stripping it and making plates. The shop had dabbled in CTP with the Xanté 5000 and Presstek’s D-Stat system, but Rivera decided it was time for a more decisive move. So he brought in the PlateWriter 2000 ink-jet CTP system, which produces press-ready aluminum plates without chemical processing.

“It’s a pretty cool little system,” says Rivera. “It’s extremely simple.”

The shop also bought the Glunz & Jensen i-Position standalone imposition software and Harlequin’s TrapPro, along with a Harlequin Genesis RIP (v7.2).

Rivera says he loves the quality of the stochastic (FM) screening used by the PlateWriter. The chief selling point, he notes, was that maintenance costs for the PlateWriter were far cheaper than larger CTP units. 

So far, the device has had no problem keeping up with the in-plant’s workload, which requires about 12 plates a day, and up to 20 on a busy day.

“The best thing...about this is it’s chemistry free,” he says. 

In addition, the shop also just added a two-color, 13x19? Presstek/ABDick 9995C portrait-fed press.

“It’s got a lot of big press features,” reports Rivera. Plus, he adds, “it’s fairly easy to set up.” 

The press has centralized microprocessor control, a motorized continuous film dampening system and a 16-Roller ink system with three ink form rollers. A common double-surface impression cylinder on the press allows both colors to be printed without a gripper change, ensuring excellent registration. 

One reason the in-plant selected a press over a digital printer was to avoid click charges. In the end, Rivera reasoned, offset would be cheaper and last longer.

“I bought this offset new. It’ll last me 20, 30 years,” he notes. “How long will a Xerox 250 last me?” To be fair, the in-plant actually has a Xerox 250, added about a year ago.

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