Browse our clientsWitherbys Lithoflow is a company steeped in history. Originally established in 1740 in Holborn hand writing policy documents for insurance brokers. Over 270 years later Witherbys is still in the printing business – its owners still made up of the current generation of the original family – and it is still setting a precedent in offset printing.
Witherbys is now situated in North London after a move from its five-storey site in Clerkenwell in 2010. It has an annual turnover of around £3million and employs 25 people, and it’s evident from the fact that committed staff travel from as far as Peterborough, Hastings and Clacton that it is a company that inspires loyalty. Furthermore, its broad customer base - which includes national museums, societies and auction houses as well as high street names – has purchased print from Witherbys for years.
Kevin Whitlock, reproduction manager at Witherbys, believes that the company’s core values of providing excellent quality ‘green’ print, coupled with great customer service, are the key to its customer retention rate.
“At the heart of everything we do is customer satisfaction,” says Kevin. “Some years ago we took a decision to remain focused on offset printing after listening to what our customers had to say. We will of course review this decision regularly, but for now we are happy building a high quality offset department that our customers can rely on.”
When the time came for Witherbys to look for a new processor to join its pressroom line up, Kevin and his team surveyed the market for a processor and plate combination that would provide excellent print that didn’t compromise the company’s strong green credentials.
“Some of our key customers are heavily associated with the environment, and it is vital that their print provider has green credentials,” explains Kevin. “We are ISO 9001 accredited, recognised as Carbon Smart and steadily working towards ISO 12647/2 with the help of the BPIF, so when we started looking to replace our old processor and plate provider last year, we were strict on criteria: the new processor had to be as environmentally sound as possible and the plates needed to produce 600dpi quality. Luckily, both criteria were comfortably met with Fujifilm’s lo-chem ‘ZAC’ processor and Brillia HD LH-PJE plate.”
“The ‘ZAC’ processor and Brillia HD LH-PJE plate was the greenest option available on the market and the reduction in chemistry usage we have seen has been huge – we’ve saved ourselves the disposal of 1345 litres over the course of a year. We sat down and compared the PJE plates to five other plates from different suppliers and looked at each plate’s quality, definition, chemistry and water requirements and run length. Fujifilm’s solution came out on top every time.”
Fujifilm’s FLH-Z ‘ZAC’ processors are perfectly suited to the environmentally conscious printer because the 'ZAC' intelligent microprocessor control system determines the optimum replenishment rate by measuring chemistry conductivity. Consequently, the best possible development conditions are maintained, irrespective of changes in plate volume or image area. This consistency, combined with reduced chemistry usage, leads to unparalleled environmental benefits as well as lower operating costs.
Brillia HD LH-PJE is a thermal plate from Fujifilm that works with UV inks on medium print runs without the need for baking. This results in faster plate-making and quicker make-readies on press giving savings in both areas – well suited to Witherbys, which has experienced requests for last minute print runs before.
“The plates and processor are perfect for what we need. The installation went very smoothly and Fujifilm had the processor and plates running within five hours – a blessing at the time especially as we were right in the middle of moving from Clerkenwell to our new premises! We definitely made the right choice and are delighted with the environmentally friendly, excellent quality print that we can provide to our customers,” Kevin concludes.
