UK converter installs StudioRIP software

Able-Labels, a self-adhesive label printer based in Northampton, UK, has installed StudioRIP to enhance its pre-press department. The software package was purchased through StudioRIP dealer Marlowe Graphic Services, based in Leighton Buzzard.

Labels for reel-fed production, rubber stamps, fabric markers and golf tees are all produced by Able-Labels using flexographic printing plates. A recent upgrade of the Apple front-end equipment and associated software packages at Able-Labels led to issues with the aging RIP on its Agfa AccuSet 800 imagesetting system, and Marlowe Graphic Services (MGS) was called for advice.

‘Once the service experts at MGS looked at the system they could immediately see that our RIP was not sufficiently up-to-date to work with the latest front-end software,’ said Tina Willson, office manager. ‘The most cost-effective solution was to change the RIP for a StudioRIP, which solved the problem.’

As well as producing films for flexographic work, the imagesetter acts as a reliable back-up for the company’s computer-to-plate system. ‘We had only installed the StudioRIP for a week when our CtP system developed a problem, and we had to revert to film production for all of our work,’ added Tina Willson.

MGS managing director Darren Eliot said: ‘The situation at Able-Labels was not uncommon – companies update their front-end systems, but don’t always realize that this has a knock-on effect for older RIPs, as they are typically not PostScript 3 compliant. StudioRIP is suitable to work with the very latest software products, as well as a wide range of existing imagesetter products, computer-to-plate systems, proofers, and large format imaging devices, and is often the ideal solution to such problems.’