What is it?
It’s a proofing press that allows us to do flexographic proofs to the profile that we get. This means we can produce a true representation of the final printed product prior to going to press, using the printer’s substrate inks, and flexographic plates to match for both ink density and dot gain, using UV and water-based solvents.

Why did you decide to purchase the DotMatch?
What we wanted to do was not available on other presses. You couldn’t match exactly the printer’s press. We wanted a world-class system and using flexographic plates, we wanted a method that could deliver proofs that could be accurately reproduced for the first time on a press. It took six months before we could achieve a formula that could simulate conditions to match the printer’s press.

Did you look at any other machines?
We majored on digital proofing presses. We looked at Kodak Approval and Epson proofers among others. The DotMatch system saves time and in terms of setting the correct ink density and dot gain, we could not have done this without this press.

What features do you particularly like about it?
We can push our technical skills to the limit to produce better images. If highlight is going to bruise, it shows that and it also shows scattered dots, which would bruise, so we can clean it up. Some of our competitors have their designs done here because of this.

How quick is it?
It takes 45 minutes to produce the proof prior to producing the plates. The time it takes to produce the plates can take up to 40 minutes for digital and four hours for conventional, but our total turnaround time is 24 hours.

What’s the quality like?
It matches the press to produce perfect results every time and as a result we’ve managed to save our clients 80m of 1.6m-wide set-up material.

Has it won you new work?
It has won us proofing work and generated pre-press work. We have produced worldwide for clients in Russia, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Korea. In addition, we won the Queen’s Award in June 2005. We are constantly developing the system using different plate technology and we also open up our facilities for people to do research work. Plate manufacturers, ink manufacturers, substrate manufacturers and universities all use our facilities to trial new ideas.

Were there any difficulties during installation?
We had to build an extension on our building to accommodate it. We had to take the roof off a newly built building to get it in as we could not get it through the doors. We spent £1,000 on creating a space for it, because the majority of it came in one piece.

What about the service?
The service has been excellent. We work in partnership with JM Heaford and improve certain areas if they need improving.

Under what circumstances would you buy another?
To increase productivity. If we get more sales then we would buy another press.

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CONCLUSION
User’s verdict
Speed 4/5
Quality 5/5
Reliability 5/5
Value for money 5/5

Supplier’s response
Nigel Heaford, sales manager at JM Heaford, explains: “The machine at Corniche is flexographic proofing technology that matches the quality of the flexo print process. Heafords has supplied this type of service to the gravure industry since 1983, but we have been involved with gravure since 1969. We’ve supplied 110 of them worldwide as opposed to supplying 2,200 gravure proofing machines, which is very simple compared to flexo, and I’m surprised more printers don’t demand it. Corniche is proof that this system works and can pay for itself in terms of service.”
Price £40,000 to £130,000 depending on specification
Contact JM Heaford 0161 928 5679