Half-Size, One Side: Straight Productivity

Mid-size straight presses in the familiar 19x26", 20x28", and 20x29" formats are being enhanced by high-productivity automation features and the ability to handle heavier stocks, plus more affordable entry-level models are becoming available. In the meantime, presses in the so-called "three-quarter" size (also known as "oversize 29") are gaining support among printers looking to compete with shops equipped with 40" machines.

In addition, versatile, specialized sheetfeds designed specifically for packaging and converting work—also in the oversize format—are prompting both market-expansion interest among commercial printers and capability-expanding interest among packaging printers.

Says Harry Wingruber, Speedmaster 74 product manager for Heidelberg USA, "It's surprising how much demand there is today for non-perfecting presses even though a perfector usually can be justified for shops whose printed-both-sides work accounts for 15% to 20% of their total. Printers that don't have space for a long perfector, that aren't ready to make a big commitment to perfecting, or simply are accustomed to individual press passes are well served by straight presses."

Heidelberg, he says, continues to sell about one-third of its mid-size presses, the Printmaster 74 and Speedmaster 74 lines, as straight printing units.

Wingruber adds, "It's in the 'oversize 29' category—the six-up format—that our straight CD 74 is finding a lot of acceptance."

Early this year, KBA North America introduced the Rapida 74, a fully automatic 20x29" press, available in up to eight colors, with a rated speed of 15,000 sheets per hour (sph). One of its first installations was at Acme Printing, Des Moines, Iowa, which last year had put in a 41"-wide Rapida 105 six-color with coater and fully automatic plate changers, CIP3 digital interface, automatic washers and ink roller wash, and a KBA Densitronic closed-loop spectrophotometry system.

"We had been running two six-color presses, a 25" and a 29", that I felt were not as productive as they needed to be," says Jerry Miller, president of Acme Printing. "There's a lot more automation on the Rapida 74, including semi-automatic plate mounters and fully automatic blanket and plate washers. The print quality is superb; there's no ghosting or marking."

Moreover, Miller adds, the Rapida 74 provides the flexibility and capacity that Acme needs in the important half-size market. "We could never run board work on our older six-colors," he says, "but the new KBA will increase our capacity by allowing us to run packaging jobs. It's a very versatile press."

Acme, established in 1923, had just three employees in 1976, when Miller purchased the company. Since then, it has grown to 100 employees and $13 million in annual sales, occupying two 30,000-square-foot buildings, one for administration and production, the other for mailing, warehousing, and fulfillment.

Komori America offers its 20x26" Lithrone 26 and 20½x283/8" Lithrone 28 models in up to eight units, rated at 15,000 sph. Also, Komori's 20x26" Sprint line is available in single- or two-color configurations.

"Our Lithrone 28 is pretty versatile. Since it handles up to 32-point board, it is well equipped to handle a multitude of packaging applications," says Doug Schardt, sheetfed product manager. "This has become important as commercial printers reach into other markets to take advantage of opportunities that previously went to specialty printers."

Schardt adds, "We think that niche markets also benefit from Komori technology on the half-size. We've seen a number of printers use our half-size presses to explore the UV or high-gloss printing technology."

MAN Roland continues to offer its economical 20x29" Roland 200, which is available as a two-, four-, or five-color machine. The press, which features a compact design with integrated low-pile delivery and control console, is called ideal for small shops and in-plant operations.

Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses, says John Santie, sheetfed product manager, has been concentrating on streamlining operation and reducing waste on its Diamond 1000 LS, a 20½x283/8" press that's rated at 15,000 sph, of which about 85 systems are installed in North America.

"We've been speeding up makeready, adopting CIP3 and CIP4 protocols, and using the ink profiles from the next job to speed set-up and streamline changeover," Santie adds. "At the moment, no perfector is available for the press, although one is undergoing development right now in Japan."

Mitsubishi also offers the Diamond 1000 in a beefed-up LC version, designed for carton work, which can be specified to accommodate a stock range of either .008" up to 32-point or .012" up to 36-point.

Sakurai USA, which already offers a 21x29" press, has found a successful niche in its 26"-wide 466SI and 466SIP presses in the past four months.

The press models that are making news in straight printing today are the "three-quarter" or "oversize 29" designs, which provide printers with a versatile format that accommodates six-page forms, oblong or odd-size jobs, and a range of so-called "square-inch" work such as labels and packaging and converting jobs.

At Drupa 2000, Heidelberg introduced its CD 74, a 235/8x291/8"-format machine available with up to 11 printing units, with a rated speed of 15,000 sph. It is designed to accommodate a variety of substrates, from lightweight stock all the way up to 32-point board.

"We thought the CD 74 would be particularly appealing in label and packaging markets," says Wingruber of Heidelberg USA, "but we're finding that commercial printers like the oversize format, too." Already, he adds, 220 of the CD 74 presses, consisting of some 1,275 printing units, have been installed worldwide; in North America, the installed unit count is 298, comprising 45 presses.

Patson's Media Group, a commercial printer in Sunnyvale, Calif., is one printer that has been enjoying the six-up format. Established in 1968 as a copy shop franchise producing technical documentation and book work, the company changed its name to Patson's Press when it branched into full-service color offset printing.

Until a year ago, the shop relied mainly on its 14x20½" five-color Speedmaster 52. But by installing a CD 74 six-color plus coater, Patson's was able to increase its color capability and its sheet size.

"The extra three inches make a huge difference," exclaims Joe Dellamano, vice president of operations for Patson's. "When MAN Roland introduced that size, I told Heidelberg that it needed to have a press in that size, too."

From its location in Silicon Valley, Patson's caters to a majority of high-tech businesses, as well as insurance and broker work.

"The CD 74 was a kind of a plug-and-play press," says John Dellamano, vice president of planning for Patson's. "We ordered it with a CPC24 module, a sheet-scanning densitometer that makes ink train adjustments on the run. We're up to color in 20 minutes and less than 100 sheets. Plus, we were the first printer in northern California to install a full CIP3 system. It makes our makeready so much faster. We still have to have skilled press operators but CIP3 takes the guesswork out of the job."

Not only is the press size a departure for Patson's, but so is the look of the press, which the Dellamanos refer to as "stealth-looking," with sleek lines and a new color.

"As it turns out, the CD 74 is busier than our other presses," says John Dellamano. "To be honest, we didn't have work lined up when we ordered the machine, but every time we have customers in for press checks, they get to see the press in action. It has turned out to be the best investment for our company."

MAN Roland jolted the industry at the Drupa 2000 show in Germany when it posted a speed rating of 18,000 sheets per hour on its new 23¼x291/8" Roland 500, a completely redesigned non-perfecting model utilizing a flatter sheet-transfer geometry. The stock thickness range, from .001" up to .040", accommodates onionskin up to corrugated and microflute.

The machine, which MAN Roland calls a "packaging press for on-demand production," is designed to appeal to two prospect groups: short-run, high-quality commercial printers wishing to extend their portfolios to include packaging, and packaging printers equipped with larger presses that are striving for faster production and shorter makereadies for short-run folding boxes.

The first U.S. installation of a Roland 500, a six-color with coater, is scheduled to take place this month in Los Angeles. About 15 printers are operating the presses in Europe, including one that bought a second Roland 500.

"The Roland 500 is unique to the market because of its high speed, flexibility on substrates from light paper to heavy cardboard, the special oversize format, and the Pecom network connectivity, which streamlines makeready and job set-up and changeover," says MAN Roland's marketing director, Christian Cerfontaine.

He adds, "This ability to produce high-quality, high-value jobs in extremely short runs on a wide range of substrates makes the Roland 500 quite competitive against 40" equipment on both commercial and packaging work."

At the Graph Expo show this month in Chicago, MAN Roland is staging the North American introduction of the Roland 500, showing its versatility in producing carton work–-both the lightweight insert and the box itself.

Speaking of Graph Expo, here's a glimpse at what manufacturers plan to display at the show.

Heidelberg is displaying its CD 74 equipped with a complete, fully integrated ultraviolet curing system, plus the new AxisControl spectrophotometric system integrated into the CP2000 Center for reading color bars located anywhere on the sheet. Also, the Printmaster 74 model will be shown with a new wash-up system.

KBA plans to stage the North American debut of its 20x29" Karat 74 press equipped with a coater. The compact, waterless, and keyless digital offset press, rated at 10,000 sph, will be demonstrated executing a complete job changeover in just 17 minutes.

Komori America plans to introduce many updates to its Lithrone line. Demonstrations of a five-color Lithrone 2800, designed to show how the press appeals both to high-quality commercial printers and to shops taking their first venture into multicolor work, will stress easy operation, plus feature the latest software updates for ink key downloading, press management and maintenance, error reporting, closed-loop densitometric and spectrophotometric readings, and quality control.

Komori will also display how it automatically analyzes the ICC profiles of the press for proof matching.

Mitsubishi will unveil its 23½x29" Diamond 2000 LS press, demonstrating the machine as a six-color with coater. The machine, which has a rated speed of 16,000 sph, can be specially ordered for printers needing eight or 10 units. No perfector is available now but plans are in place to develop such a unit, possibly along with an LC version for carton work.

Last fall at the Print 01 show, Polly USA introduced its affordable 20½x29" Prestige model, a Polly 74 made in the Czech Republic, which is available in two, four, and five colors for straight printing. This month, says Polly USA, the press may be shown with plate changers.

The Prestige model is equipped with double-diameter impression and transfer cylinders, and is rated at up to 13,000 sph. It utilizes skeleton transfer shells, which can be disconnected or removed so that heavier board stock can be run without marking.

Finally, xpedx is staging the worldwide debut of the Ryobi 755XL, a five-color 23x29" sheetfed press equipped with a coater.