Fotocomp Service (Commercial Prepress provider)

Massimiliano Sampietro, principal of Fotocomp Service

CtP and Workflow Automation.

Fotocomp has been able to significantly boost process control, automate entire processing phases, and output exceptional high-quality plates. This has allowed the company to add new business with no increases in overhead or labour.

Prepress Company makes a Radical Change

Like many prepress companies Fotocomp Service, located in Milan, Italy, moved from typography and composition to become a full-service tradeshop. In the early nineties it was among the first to adopt computer-to-film imaging, making it a state-of-the-art prepress company. More recently, when Fotocomp switched to computer-to-plate, it re-energised its entire workflow at the same time.

Massimiliano Sampietro, in collaboration with his mother Carla, is the driving force behind this family-run company. According to Sampietro, the drop in film demand along with new market opportunities prompted him to look for a CtP system that would give the company a competitive edge. It wasn't an easy decision, he says, because of the variety of solutions that exist on the market.

Sampietro was first impressed with the :Apogee automation software. "Right from the outset, I was convinced that :Apogee Series3 represented the most complete solution. It is simple to use, but at the same time powerful and flexible, and therefore suited to our everyday reality," he says. "But at the time the Agfa offer did not include a thermal machine that was both fast and offered an 8-up format, so I was about to go for the Creo solution. The :Xcalibur 45 arrived just at the right time. It was the machine with the characteristics that I had been waiting for, and was also capable of providing an optimal platemaking solution for the printers we serve as well as those we were targeting."

According to Sampietro, the :Xcalibur 45 was a "dual revolution" for Fotocomp. The combination of workflow automation and thermal platesetting allows the company to take on a new market. With :Apogee Fotocomp has been able to significantly boost process control and to automate entire processing phases. The increase in workload that came from integrating CtP into the workflow, Sampietro says, was absorbed without any noticeable repercussions.

"In less than a month, starting from scratch, we made over 400 plates and demand continues to rise steadily. Although this is paralleled by a drop in the demand for film, which is still our strongest product," says Sampietro. He intends to continue offering the entire range of traditional services to support all his customers. "Our customer base is highly diversified; we still work a lot in the publishing sector, which is where we started, as well as for agencies and graphic design firms, and for a growing number of printers for whom we provide all kinds of prepress services and now, plate making," he says. For Fotocomp Service, making a radical leap rather than changing the process a step at a time has certainly paid off.

The combination of workflow automation and thermal platesetting allows Fotocomp Service to take on a new market.