Third Roland Press To Help Fast Turn-Rounds

Cleveland (UK) printer Billingham Press has has placed an order for a Roland 504LV press, which will be the company's third consecutive MAN Roland B2-format machine.

Cleveland (UK) printer Billingham Press has has placed an order for a Roland 504LV press, which will be the company's third consecutive MAN Roland B2-format machine.

The new press will replace a Roland 304LV that was purchased in 2002.

Ian Dodds, the managing director of Billingham Press, said: "As a business we have undergone significant change since 2002.

Back then we were still producing over 120 million garment tickets per year.

The geographical base of final garment production had been changing over time and, eventually, we were shipping the label work directly to China.

We could see the writing on the wall for that particular element of our business, and realised that we needed to reposition ourselves.

We now print only for design agencies, with the majority of the work coming from the north-east of the country.

Having successfully made that transition, we have decided to enhance our printing capabilities by purchasing the Roland 500." The design agency work handled by the company demands high-quality print production and fast turn-around, he said, whilst adding: "We generally only have a day-and-a-half's work in hand.

That means that we are able to respond quickly to customer demands.

If an agency needs a job to be produced same-day we are able to provide that level of service.

The inclusion of a dedicated coater in the configuration of the new press means that we will be able to handle work just as soon as it comes off the press, providing for fast finishing and delivery of jobs." Dodds commented that the overall design of the Roland 500 was an improvement from the Roland 300.

He was particularly impressed with the speed of make-ready and speed of production on the Roland 500, whilst the 18,000 sheets per hour (sph) top speed was not essential most of the time, it would ensure that the company does not create blockages in the production system when it has long runs to handle.

Billingham Press had also opted for the Power Plate Loading facility (PPL) as the company believed that it would be a significant benefit for its operators over the long term.

Dodds said: "The sophisticated colour monitoring tools provided within the Colorpilot system will ensure that we maintain colour consistency throughout the run and provide assurance to our customers.

It is not that we have ever had a complaint in that regard, but it is another selling feature for us as printers.

Colour is critical when working with design agencies.

We will know that an operator that puts a job on the press in the middle of the night shift will be producing the same colour as the operator producing work in the middle of the day." MAN Roland said that Colorpilot assures consistantly high print quality through densitometric colour measurement, utilising control strips that can be located at any position on the sheet.

In commenting on MAN Roland's performance as a supplier, Dodds said: "The current press is certainly one of the best purchases that we have ever made.

I feel sure that its successor will also fall in to that category.

We have always been impressed by the service provided by MAN Roland GB and believe that the Proserv agreement that we have taken out with the new press will enhance this element even more.

Proserv provides for regular inspection of the press by our local MAN Roland engineer.

The objective is to ensure that any wearing parts are spotted and replaced before we have any problems on the machine.

It is a very pro-active maintenance contract, designed to ensure that we can keep printing." The Roland 500 has been designed for commercial and packaging printing and it is claimed to have the ability to handle a range of substrates, right through to micro-flute board.

Its compatibility with UV inks, and the possibility to configure the machine with single or double coater, means that it can be designed to exactly match printers' requirements, added MAN Roland.

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