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Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: KBA | Subject: Technoplan, Rapida 105
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 February 2005
Balancing The Options For Cost-Effective
Printing
As part of its first open house of the year at its Radebeul plant, KBA detailed cost-effective production scenarios based on run lengths and processes for commercial printing.
As part of its first open house of the year at its Radebeul plant, KBA detailed cost-effective production scenarios based on run lengths and processes for commercial printing More than 300 participants from Germany, Europe and the USA took the opportunity to see KBA's current developments in medium-format and large-format sheetfed offset production with integrated workflows, and to explore the cost efficiencies of opting for one or the other, an issue of increasing moment for major printers, said the German press manufacturer
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 9 Feb 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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The first speaker, Hannes Rogler, the managing director of Rogler Softwarelösungen, presented a view of the Technoplan management information system (MIS) as an example of open and job management in modern day-to-day printing.
The MIS system, which is also deployed in the KBA customer centre, enabled 10,000 copies of a 32-page A4 brochure on 135gsm paper and an additional cover on 350gsm paper to be planned and costed for five-back-five on a 10-colour Rapida 105 perfector press or for straight printing on a six-colour Rapida 142 large-format press.
Technoplan is said to compare individually definable production channels and thus facilitate job scheduling.
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Jobs are displayed on the electronic schedule and all feedback from the individual production stages is collected centrally and clearly displayed.
Drag-and-drop enables jobs to be shifted around within the schedule, both in terms of their sequence and press allocation, which also makes it easier to respond to unforeseen circumstances.
Finally, the data are forwarded via JDF to the Logotronic Professional production management system and Creo Prinergy workflow for digital plate imaging on a Lotem 800 II Quantum.
Ursula Voss-Eiden, the marketing manager at Creo Germany, explained the processes involved in switching a job at short notice from the medium-format Rapida 105 to the large-format Rapida 142.
Using the job parameters defined in the MIS system, the Creo workflow adopts the imposition pattern for the large-format press and prepares CTP output on the Creo Magnus VLF.
That is said to be possible because the JDF interface supports fast and reliable data exchange, including feedback on production progress.
On top of that, the Squarespot thermal head autofocus system with automatic compensation of plate irregularities and integrated electronic temperature compensation for the plates and imaging drums, is claimed to enable the Creo system to be switched - with no impairment to quality - between platesetters of differing formats, it was claimed.
In the unusual dimensions of large-format and super-large formats the Creo CTP system properties have proved to be extremely helpful in achieving a consistent image quality across the entire sheet, claimed Voss-Eiden.
KBA product manager Reinhold Stange showed how job data are transferred from the MIS to Logotronic.
Once the plates have been made the CIP3 data are automatically assigned to the job via the hot folder.
The CIP3 files are also converted in to preset data for the press.
When a job is rescheduled to another press the preset data are automatically recalculated for that press.
That is said to ensure that the latest job data, including preset data, are always available at the control console.
Presswatch and Speedwatch are claimed to furnish printshop managers with practical tools for monitoring and subsequently analysing the current production run within the Logotronic system.
That is said to not only increase effective production time by utilising preset and repeat data but also reduces the number of waste sheets.
Company efficiency is boosted by a continuous flow of data.
Precise press and production data support a more accurate cost calculation.
Jurgen Veil, marketing manager and print specialist at KBA Radebeul, calculated production costs for a medium-sized printshop.
Basing his calculations on prespecified job structures he demonstrated that choosing the right equipment can have a dramatic impact on production figures and pressroom efficiency.
The print shop cited in his example had three 3B sheetfed offset presses, a slightly antiquated four-colour perfector, a five-colour press with coater and an eight-colour press for four-over-four.
Veil assigned some typical jobs and run lengths to the various presses.
The print shop in question was then re-tooled with a large-format Rapida 142 five-colour with coater and a new-generation Rapida 105 10-colour for five-over-five.
The older four-colour perfector was retained and the jobs re-assigned, with identical content.
When calculating the production output.
Veil also demonstrated that the new press fleet could reduce the number of shifts required from eight (two x three shifts, one x two shifts) to five (two x two shifts, one x one shift).
So the new kit not only generated capacity reserves but also substantially reduced labour costs for the standard job range, he claimed.
Using the job data and the number of print runs required for a fictitious print job produced during the open house - a 32-page brochure with four-page cover - Jurgen Veil demonstrated that, factoring in the output levels now achievable in the individual formats, a large-format press is more cost-effective than a 3B five-over-five perfector for run lengths of just 20,000 copies or more.
The cost benefits associated with large format increase in proportion to the run length.
Below 20,000 copies per hour (cph) the long perfector is more economical, and here the cost advantage increases as the run length decreases, said Veil.
If the four-page cover on 350gsm paper is excluded the break-even point in favour of large-format production shifts downwards.
Factoring in the total manufacturing costs (pre-press, press, cutting, folding, saddle stitching) produces no significant change in the result, so that large formats retain their economic advantage from 20,000 copies, for instance.
KBA said that German printer Heidenreich in Bunde has a press fleet very similar to the re-tooled one examined by Jurgen Veil - a Rapida 105 10-colour perfector, a Rapida 105 five-colour with coater and delivery extension and a Rapida 142 six-colour with coater and its operations supported the premises put forward by Jurgen Veil.
The company expanded in to large-format sheetfed offset to address additional markets, such as the display sector, to guarantee quality for critical jobs that cannot be produced five-over-five due to the colour imposition or substrate and to relieve pressure on the existing medium-format presses.
The increasing number of job specifying coating also played a decisive role.
KBA added that after considering all the processes, the choice of five-over-five in medium format or straight production in large format is still dictated largely by the job structure.
Large format printing is frequently much more cost-effective, particularly for longer print runs, or challenging substrates that can only be perfect printed with great difficulty (if at all) in medium format.
It also offers users an option to extend their range of services, such as by printing large-format displays or posters.
If the product range largely comprises a succession of smaller jobs with a limited number of pages with less than 10,000 copies, then perfecting in 3B has distinct advantages, added the company.
As for pre-press, the print and finishing quality that can now be achieved, the preferred format is no longer relevant because there is little difference in the quality, make-ready times, manning levels and maximum output possible with medium and large formats. Request a free brochure from KBA ...
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