Just in Time for Short-Notice Customer Needs

Long perfectors as a response to current trends

Printers often need to produce jobs at very short notice so that the print product can be delivered just in time. When they are printed both sides, which most jobs are, long perfecting presses are ideal.
 
The delivery time print buyers specify is getting shorter and shorter but their print quality expectations are rising. Especially for industrial-scale commercial and publications printers, this is the ideal environment for high-speed long perfectors. What advantages do long perfectors offer and for whom are they worthwhile? The answer: printers can sell shorter delivery times at a premium and make strategic changes to their product portfolio. A long perfector can also be used to print seven- or eight-colour jobs in straight printing mode. Companies who don't want to move to a larger press format can instead install a long perfector to boost their capacity. 

InlinePerfector – more production time, less make-ready time

The decisive factor is utilisation. To determine the economic feasibility of investing in a long perfector, a printing company must carefully calculate the degree of utilisation based on expected job volume. If a high degree of utilisation is assured, then the advantages of long perfectors can be realised in full: short production and turnaround times; only one make-ready and only one wash-up; the print finishing operations can start sooner and the job can be delivered to the customer sooner as well; and since there is no second pass, there is no need for de-powdering, intermediate storage or pile turning. 
 
Every printer is looking to increase the ratio of production time to make-ready time. A press with an InlinePerfector is the ideal way to achieve this: only one pass instead of two with extra drying and waiting time in between. With a 32-page brochure printed 5/5-colour on a ten-colour perfecting press, this means a time saving of around 30 percent compared to printing this job on a five-colour straight press.
 
Saving time is an important factor but it's not the only one. Print quality must also meet the highest demands and the ROLAND InlinePerfector assures this as well. A prerequisite for precise front-to-back register is high stability of the entire mechanical system. Here the InlinePerfector with its double-diameter sheet turning drum with optimally coordinated sheet travel and transfer rhythm provides consistently high print quality and the most precise front-to-back register. The flattest sheet travel path, the lowest number of sheet transfers, and air-supported sheet guiding – these all add up to high and smear-free print quality. Scratching and doubling are also virtually eliminated. The lowest mechanical strain on the sheet makes an important contribution to highly precise register.

OptiPrint jackets – same print quality on both sides

Recto or verso side? With modern perfecting printing the uniformity of print quality is such that this favourite question can hardly be answered any more. With the ROLAND InlinePerfector this uniformity is assured by Opti-Print jackets on the impression cylinders in all printing units downstream of the sheet turning system. OptiPrint jackets, an MAN Roland development, are textured plates with a special ink-repelling surface. Now in the 2nd generation, these jackets have been improved even further in accordance with the latest findings in industrial materials technology.

Networking for the shortest make-ready times

printnet networks the print production processes of sales, DTP, prepress, printing and postpress into a complete workflow. Coordinated organisation of print jobs and thus optimal utilisation of presses leads to a further in-crease in productivity. When features such as automated impression cylinder washing systems and the ROLAND QuickChange equipment are integrated in the printing plant overall concept, the possibilities for reducing make-ready time are fully utilised.

Cutting-edge technology for short make-ready times

The extensive automation possibilities of the ROLAND 700 provide many additional benefits. Changeover from straight printing mode to perfecting and vice versa is fully automated and takes only around 2 minutes including any job-related print length correction that may be necessary.
 
Changing plates with the fully-automated APL (AutomaticPlateLoading) plate changing system is even faster, requiring less than a minute per printing unit with no operator intervention. When all plates need to be changed, the operator can use this time to attend to other tasks such as preparing for the next job. Besides speed, automatic control of the plate position during loading ensures that the plates sit properly and that start-up register is precise. The rear plate clamp is divided into seven segments for fine register correction at the sheet rear edge, especially important for substrates that tend to stretch.
 
The automatic wash-up systems for the inking units and blanket and impression cylinders guarantee short make-ready times. The ROLAND 700 can be equipped with automatic impression cylinder washing units, and the washing brushes remove soiling in the recesses of the textured cylinder surface very effectively. The wash-up process can be done simultaneously with blanket washing. An automatic inking roller washing device with different washing programs for different degrees of soiling is standard equipment. A washing agent supply system with four separate circuits for the washing units permits fast changeover between conventional and UV inks which is demanded by many printing companies.

Case study: the Kriechbaumer printing company

The Kriechbaumer printing company in Taufkirchen close to Munich in Germany attributes its success to long perfectors. Most of the printing at Kriechbaumer is done on one twelve-colour and two ten-colour ROLAND 700 presses in the 70 x 100 cm format class and one eight-colour ROLAND 500 in the 50 x 70 cm format class. They also have a two-colour and a four-color ROLAND 700. All presses are equipped with the ROLAND InlinePerfector and mainly run in perfecting mode. Technical Director Raimund Hauser explains the enormous growth that long perfectors have made possible: "In 1998 our output was around 40 million sheets printed both sides. By 2005 this had climbed to some 120 million, we tripled our output between 1998 and 2005."