San Bernardino Valley College invests in Cron CtP system

The need to upgrade was forced by SBVC’s old platemaker discontinuing support and plates for its existing equipment. SBVC also required support for both 2-color and 4-color offset presses.

After evaluating all available choices, SBVC decided the Cron-ECRM 26H package was right for it. The package included: a Cron 26H fully automatic platesetter; Blackwood Emerald UV, low chemistry plate system; and WPT70 low chemistry wash-out unit.

‘It’s a lot faster and more efficient,’ said Dennis Winters, printing operations specialist at SBVC. ‘Like five times faster than the old one; we went from six plates an hour to 22 plates an hour.’

Kevin Sutton, another printing operations specialist at SBVC, added: ‘A big difference is the plate loader. It loads by itself one at a time and keeps the press going – it’s continuous, which is a big savings on man hours, as much as a couple of hours a day.

‘So right off the bat it was so much more efficient. Just push a button and let it go.’

Sutton continued: ‘The best part is slip sheet removal. This thing removes the sheet between each plate that comes from the factory, so saves us time. There are a lot of little features like that, which are unique to this Cron-ECRM platesetter.’

Time isn’t the only savings either, with the shop noting that they used to pay US$600 per box of 100 plates on its old platesetter while now they are paying just US$200 per box of 100 plates.

Cron-ECRM serves as the master distributor in North America for Cron CtP systems and Blackwood printing plates. Cron-ECRM is an extension of Cron for the research and development of new, high-quality pre-press equipment that is distributed worldwide. Cron-ECRM provides regional sales and support for Cron products with demonstration, training, support and parts centrally located at their headquarters in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

SBVC is a community college located in San Bernardino, California that offers 138 programs. It is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. It is also a part of the San Bernardino Community College District, which includes Crafton Hills College located in nearby Yucaipa and the Professional Development Center in San Bernardino.