Trident, based in Beverley, Yorkshire, chose the XPose! 160 VLF machine to help improve quality and productivity at A&R Carton.

The machine is a piece of engineering genius, said Trident technical director Jon Stevens. But the set-up is unusual. We manage data for the packaging printer and provide a file for it to make plates from directly.

This was a better solution than a printer installing CTP and learning about repro, he said.

Stevens felt the machines internal drum gave it a strength beyond the rest of its competitors.

Trident had big financial backing from its parent, the global Sonoco Group, at a time when banks were unhappy to fund expensive kit, he added.

Trident also handles brand management and has 120 staff in the UK and US.
Iain Walvin, repro manager at A&R Carton, expected to image 8,000 VLF plates and reduce film use to 10% of his customers within a year.

With CTP we can image a plate in eight minutes: it took 40 on our Misomex imagesetter. Turning Point Technologies supplied the kit, which is being driven by Artwork Systems ArtPro packaging pre-press software.

-Lscher has celebrated the delivery of its 300th XPose! The machine was installed at Bertelsmann Arvato in Spain. UK users of the platesetter have risen from four to 16 in the last year and four more are to be installed shortly.

Story by Jez Abbott

Picture: XPose! - "engineering genius"