Product category:
Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: MAN Roland GB | Subject: Directdrive system
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 12 March 2007
Press System Creates Plate Changes World
Record
Deep in Germany's industrial heartland, a new world record has been set - 103 complete plate changes using 412 plates in 24 hours of continuous production.
Deep in Germany's industrial heartland, a new world record has been set - 103 complete plate changes using 412 plates in 24 hours of continuous production MAN Roland believes that the new record will make printers look at plate changing in a different light forever
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 17 Dec 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Gateshead (UK) NW Printers has its 18,000 sheets per hour MAN Roland R500 press up and running and already working a double-day shift.
The challenge was to see how many printing plates a Roland 700 press could process during 24 hours on a customer's job that required 1,000 copies of a 2,800-page catalogue.
Based in Stuttgart, the printers Rosler Druck took on the challenge but the company's six-colour Roalnd 700 B1 press included the latest press technology in the shape of MAN Roland's new Directdrive system to help them achieve it.
In conjunction with MAN Roland's Quickchange software and automatic plate change system (APL), Directdrive operates directly driven plate cylinders in all printing units.
Including plate change, wash-up of blanket and impression cylinders, plus inking units and ink feed, the MAN Roland system is claimed to reduce make-ready time by up to 60 per cent.
On the day of the event, independent adjudicator Helmut Hahn gave the countdown and the press operators began their marathon attempt.
Twenty-four hours later it was time for Hahn to announce the results.
During the continuous run, there were 103 complete plate changes using 412 plates, which equated to the production of 1,000 printed sheets and a full plate change every 14 minutes during the whole period.
After the event, Gary Doman said: "This represents a huge leap forward and the full potential of Directdrive has been shown by this staggering performance.
We're constantly talking to printers and their biggest need is to cut costs and waste, so we're committed to developing technology, like Directdrive, that will help all printers." MAN Roland said it first developed direct drive systems in its commercial and newspaper web offset presses.
The vision was to produce a similar system for its sheetfed presses and the company added that it involved considerable investment and new thinking.
The system involves the direct operation of each plate cylinder, which is declutched and driven by a high torque motor mounted on the cylinder journal.
That results in a reduction in make-ready times as plates in all printing units can now be changed whilst other job change-over processes take place.
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