Based in Harrogate, Yorkshire, Platinum was founded by David and Marina Wywill in 1988, and has seen a steady growth over the past 22 years to become the £2.5million turnover print service provider it is today. Platinum employs 26 people on its 18,000 sq ft site and has a range of accounts which include Bettys and Taylors bakery, Superbreak Holidays and Leeds Grand Theatre.

The company prides itself on its exceptional customer service, for which it is renowned, due to its ability to offer high quality print, short turnaround times and competitive prices. As a result, Platinum places a heavy emphasis on not only developing its employees, but also ensuring effective production practices and quality controls. This includes achieving the ISO 9001-2000 quality management standard, gaining Pantone accredited status in 2007 and working at a high standard to minimise its environmental impact.

Processless for offset

In order to stay at the forefront of technology, Platinum continuously investigates the latest technologies for its production departments, which include direct mail, wide format, offset and digital. Platinum’s relationship with Fujifilm started three years ago when the company became one of the early adopters of Fujifilm’s Brillia HD PRO-T, and later its PRO-T2 processless plates, which it uses on its two Komori presses, both of which run ‘alcohol-free’.

Mark Plummer, production director for Platinum,, explains: “In addition to reviewing our processes and customer offerings on an ongoing basis, Platinum works hard to minimise its environmental impact. Switching to Fujifilm’s Brillia HD PRO-T processless plates meant we could reduce the 2000 litres of chemistry used to process plates per year right down to zero. This not only had a significant impact on our environmental footprint, but was also a huge cost saving for us.”

Platinum recently also decided to trial, and subsequently switched to, Fujifilm’s PRESSMAX founts for its presses. Mark continues: “Using FountMax Blue 30.40 AF (DP26P) has made a big difference to production as it is giving us much better consistency and make-ready times on press – something that is essential for us. The combination of the Fujifilm plates and fount means that our presses are running very efficiently.”

Automation to make the work flow

One year after its initial investment in Fujifilm products, Platinum decided to review its workflow and analysed the available options on the market. The company thoroughly tested a number of workflows to ensure itchose the right one, but as Fujifilm’s XMF Workflow was unique in being built from the ground up around the Adobe Print Engine (APPE) at the time, the deal was quickly sealed.

“As Fujifilm’s XMF Workflow is built from the ground up around the APPE, it gives us the most flexibility when handling customers’ files,” comments Mark. “And, as Fujifilm has a close relationship with Adobe, we can be confident that XMF will continue to be as efficient in the future as it is today.”

He continues: “Any worries we had about the changeover and integration with our current systems were quickly dispelled as we received in-depth training and on-site support throughout the switch. We also decided to integrate XMF in stages: initially we only used it with our plate processer and the difference it made to our pre-press process was immediately noticeable – capacity was increased and it became very easy to maintain consistency across our different output devices.”

Streamlining approvals

Platinum uses an online storefront to enable its customers to place orders 24/7 – another piece of the jigsaw which ensures the business is run as efficiently as possible. So, when Fujifilm talked to Platinum about XMF Remote, its online job submission and soft-proofing module, the team was very interested to hear more.

“We had tested a remote proofing module before and weren’t impressed with it at all,” says Mark. “However, when we looked at XMF Remote we were delighted with its simplicity, and so approached a few of our clients to get them to try it out as well. The feedback we received was very positive and a number of our clients were keen to start using it immediately.”

Platinum made the decision to invest in XMF Remote and immediately benefited from a simplified approvals process which resulted in much faster turnaround times. “Now that we’re using XMF Remote, a very large part of the pre-press process, including online job submission and pre-flight sign-off has been automated. Once approved, the job is automatically sent to our pre-press department, ready for final output,” adds Mark.

He concludes: “With help from Fujifilm, we have been able to maximise efficiency across a number of our processes, allowing us to continue offering an unparalleled service to our customers. Fujifilm’s ongoing support and top product offering mean Platinum can continue to work towards an even brighter future.”