The printers who have invested in the Heidelberg Anicolor presses, agree that it’s capability to print short-run jobs with offset quality make it “a preferred choice”.

“The main USP of Anicolor, I would say, is the minimal makeready time," said L Ramanathan, managing director of Sree Vinayaga Screens, Madurai, the first company to bring in a Anicolor SM 52 with coater.

Ramanathan explained, "One time a customer came to our print shop at closing time with an urgent requirement for a wedding event. I offered him a steaming cup of filter coffee and by the time we had sipped our coffees from the tumbler, the job of 500 sheets was printed and delivered to him.”

According to Heidelberg, compared to a press with conventional inking unit, the benefits of Anicolor can be summed up as "90:50:50" which means that Anicolor inking unit technology results in 90 percent less paper waste, 50 percent shorter makeready times, and 50 percent higher productivity.

Speaking about his experience with the Speedmaster SX 52, GN Vishwakumar, managing director of Rajams Digital, Chennai said, “On average, we run about 25 to 30 jobs in a 10-hour shift. That’s a pretty good number. The Anicolor lowers costs for short-runs, and generates premium quality output at digital speeds. Gradually, we pushed up productivity. Now, we utilise the SX 52 to its maximum capability.”

The Speedmaster SX 52 is a hybrid press, combining the advantages of XL class with the tried-and-tested Speedmaster SM 52 platform. It can print on any paper with thickness ranging from 0.03 mm to 0.40 mm. It can handle sheet sizes varying between a minimum of 105mm x 145mm and a maximum of 370 mm x 520 mm.

Avinash Kulkarni, director at New Point, Pune, the latest investors in the Anicolor technology with the SX 52, said the company produces 60 jobs per day.

“The press’ easy operation without tedious ink adjustments means we now print a 1,000 sheet job inside seven minutes. Its top speed of 15,000sph has also given us the capability of producing long-run jobs, whenever there is one,” said Kulkarni.

Mangalore's Prakash Offset was the first to bring in the technology to India with the SX 52 and Usha Prints, Bengaluru, which runs the SM 52 complete the five Anicolor presence in the country.

The five-storey Usha Prints unit has cemented its diversification into offset printing after acquiring the Heidelberg. Srinivas and his team at Usha Prints, feel the Anicolor is more capable when it comes to colours because of the anilox rollers, which allows the print job to take more ink where you need to run the colour a bit stronger. The Usha Prints team did a 29-set job in three hours and 30 minutes. That's almost seven minutes per set.