The Perfect Dot blanket solution for Henry Ling
Ultrachem, the independent supplier of coatings and press room consumables, has been a primary distributor of IMC Perfect Dot blankets in the UK for X years. One customer, who has consistently seen the considerable performance benefits and savings of using Perfect Dot blankets, is Henry Ling Ltd based in Dorset.
Henry Ling operates two Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 presses providing huge capacity for perfected mono work and for colour work. It has a Heidelberg xl105 to run 8 colours or special colours with cmyk or perfect 4/4 and 4/1 sections. Its 74/5 is B2 and is a five unit perfecting press with a coater
The Challenge
Gary Thompson - Department Manager at Henry Ling explained the challenges he faced:
"I run a very busy litho machine department where, due to the nature of our work, our customers demand a fast turnaround without loss of print quality. We needed a blanket that could be used across our entire plant and that gave us consistency and outstanding performance every time."
The Solution and Benefits
After extensive trialling, in consultation with Ultrachem's technical team, Henry Ling switched to Perfect Dot TP blankets just over three years ago.
The results were 'a real eye opener', according to Gary. "We closely monitor and record machine blanket changes and downtime. The reports indicated quite quickly that the Perfect Dot blankets were simply a superior product, and therefore they lasted much longer than our previous ones. In fact, we have trialled other blankets since that claim to have similar qualities, but have always returned to the Perfect Dot TP as the results are consistently successful in comparison to competitor grades. We now use the Perfect Dot blankets on all presses in our litho machine department."
Gary added; "the Perfect Dot TP blanket reproduces a very sharp dot whilst maintaining high quality throughout its life on the press. Demonstrating considerable resilience to damage or smashes was also a critical factor as changing blankets causes unprofitable machine downtime. Perfect Dot has a good life span; the longer we have a blanket on the press the less down time we have.
Ultrachem's unique service offering has also given Henry Ling great benefits in terms of delivery as Ultrachem supplies any size to order with the correct barring option. "The orders are processed very quickly and delivered the next day, we are always updated with delivery information", added Gary.
As well as supplying blankets to Henry Ling Ultrachem also supplies its everyday pressroom sundries such as plate cleaners, gums, packing sheets, IPA and blanket washes thereby cutting down on administration and deliveries. Gary concludes "We would not hesitate to recommend Ultrachem as supplier of quality Perfect Dot blankets."
