According to managing director Clinton de la Hunt, the move to computer-to-plate was deliberately delayed in order to give the technology time to settle down and become widespread: "We don't just buy technology for the sake of it. The decision to go the CTP route was made over the period of more than a year and covered all aspects of the process from looking at the advantages of thermal plate making, as compared to violet plate making and the various systems which were available.
"Obviously the most important aspect of the system for us has to be the workflow because it has to be specifically designed to handle packaging requirements. We charged our prepress manager Helmut Camondo with looking at all the relevant systems and, after extensive investigation, the decision was made in favour of the Creo system."
Camondo says a big factor in the final decision to go with Creo was the fact that it is represented by First Graphics: "We have had a long and very positive relationship with First Graphics and all of our prepress equipment has come from First Graphics. The most important aspect of the move to computer-to-plate was the back-up support and service and we know we can rely on First Graphics to give us this."
The move to computer-to-plate also brought with it another change for Highland - the adoption of the Creo PTP thermal plate.
Camondo says: "We have not had any problems with the Creo plate, even the machine minders are very happy because there is no need for them to spot the plates. As the plates come out of the processor they put them on the machine and run with them."
