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Printing Presses and Machinery (New and Used, Service and Repair)
News Release from: MAN Roland GB | Subject: Roland 700 Directdrive press
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 29 January 2008
Direct Drive Press Radically Cuts
Make-Ready Times
The UK's first MAN Roland 700 Directdrive press has been sold to UK print group St Ives for its music and multimedia operation.
The press will be a 12-unit perfecting version of the Roland 700 Directdrive, with installation due to be completed within the first quarter of this year at St Ives' Crayford plant The Directdrive sheetfed press was launched in 2007 in Germany and MAN Roland claimed a world make-ready record time at one of its first installations
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 12 Apr 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Between 25 per cent and 35 per cent savings in set-up costs and time are being claimed by MAN Roland following two field test sites of its Roland 700 Directdrive press.
The direct drive of the plate cylinder, in conjunction with an 'intelligent' coupling system, it is claimed to enable simultaneous changing of all printing plates and simultaneous make-ready operations.
During a job change-over, plate changes in all printing units, along with blanket and impression cylinder and inking roller wash-ups are concurrent and that is achieved at the optimum speed for the respective function, added MAN Roland.
Therefore, plate-change times are no longer a factor in the make-ready calculation, as the process involves only tasks running in the background, said the company.
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The 12-colour B1-format perfecting press will provide for six-back-six printing, at claimed speeds of up to 12,000 sheets per hour.
An automated make-ready package is included with the Directdrive version of the press, including Automated Plate Loading (APL) and the full suite of MAN Roland Quickchange modules.
The press will be run alcohol-free as do the incumbent presses at Crayford.
MAN Roland explained that in 1996 it had applied for first patents on direct drive in a sheetfed press following its experience with similar systems for web offset printing.
In 2004, the first Roland 700 was produced as an experimental press with direct drive capabilities.
A presentation of the concept at Drupa 2004 was followed by several field test installations and testing of a Roland 700 Directdrive in the company's Offenbach factory.
Series production of the system began in early 2007.
Hayden Savage, the operations director of St Ives Crayford, explained: "We were very impressed by the reduction in make-ready times the Directdrive system offered.
At St Ives, we are always striving to offer a more efficient service and we feel that Man Roland's Directdrive system will help us do this, by increasing productivity, whilst maintaining our standards of print quality." And he continued: "When purchasing any equipment at St Ives, we always consider how the product will benefit our customers.
With the MAN Roland 700 Directdrive press, it was our belief that once installed, its technology would accelerate the production process and provide a quicker time to market.
Importantly, this would enable us to add further value to our customer service and allow us to maintain our competitive edge." Gary Doman, sales director for sheetfed products at MAN Roland GB, commented: "I believe that the introduction of Directdrive will come to be viewed as a landmark in printing technology by future generations.
The topic of reducing make-ready times has been at the top of every print equipment suppliers' agenda during recent years.
The introduction of Directdrive technology would seem to put a full-stop at the end of that debate because there is nothing else on the market that can have such a dramatic impact in ensuring that the printer can move from job to job in the absolute minimum of time.".
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