Roll Your Own

There's a secret weapon being utilized by a number of sheetfed and digital printers desirous of boosting productivity and reducing costs. But the secret isn't so hush-hush anymore.

The weapon–-roll sheeters–-uses reel stock rather than individual sheets to be cut to the printer's desired length and size before being fed into the press.

Roll sheeters are drawing printers' attention for a variety of reasons, including savings on paper costs, less paper waste, easier storage of roll papers, ergonomically friendly handling of paper rolls, a virtually unattended press run, and, most important to a business–-sales growth.

"Roll-to-sheet feeders have become a popular accessory with many sheetfed printers over the past couple of years," says John Dowey, Heidelberg USA vice president of product management for sheetfed products. "The reason is that they simultaneously can lower paper costs and raise productivity–-a great combination in a market where pricing for print is constantly under pressure."

"Without a doubt, interest is up for roll sheeters," says Doug Schardt, sheetfed product manager for Komori America. "Printers are seeking to improve their paper pricing, and a roll sheeter allows them to be more flexible in cutting their sheets to the desired run length as well as the sheet length."

Another reason for roll sheeters' rise in popularity, states Heidelberg's Dowey, is the increased use of four-color (or more) long perfecting presses.

"A press of this configuration, combined with our CutStar roll sheeter, is a very powerful production tool since the printer gains even more productivity by producing the job in one pass," Dowey explains, adding that, worldwide, Heidelberg has installed nearly 75 CutStar units, of which around 12 are in North America. "CutStar appeals to two major target groups: long perfector users to increase the competitiveness of the process, even broadening the horizon against web offset presses for some products; and label printers that want to run high speeds on difficult substrates such as metallized paper, foil, or synthetic materials."

However, Schardt explains, roll sheeters are not for all printers.

"Printers equipped with long perfectors are a higher percentage of those who are equipping themselves with roll sheeters, as are those shops that have targeted a certain market segment, such as publication printers, which use the same paper," states Schardt. "But printers that have varying paper widths and use a variety of different paper stock would not make good candidates for roll sheeters."

Heidelberg's CutStar allows reel stock to be processed on Heidelberg SM/CD 102 presses. In operation, the paper web is fed to the cutting unit via dancer rollers, and then cut to the required format, which can be selected at will anywhere between 153/4" and 281/3".

Once the cutting process is finished, says Heidelberg, the sheet is accelerated slightly and guided to a shingling unit, where the rear edge of the sheet is lifted so that the following sheet can slip into the resulting gap. The stream of shingled stock thus formed is directed unchanged to the forwarding rollers in the feeder. In order to process sheets, the motor-driven cutting unit is removed from the feeder area laterally towards the drive side.

According to the manufacturer, because shingling is performed directly in the CutStar, the stock feed is extremely reliable and constant, making the Speedmaster more efficient than when using sheeted stock. This is particularly true for critical papers less than 80-gsm in weight, as well as special stock such as polypropylene. A further advantage, says Heidelberg, is the higher dimensional stability of reel paper compared to sheet stock, which affords far shorter makeready time and thus further reductions in production costs.

Family-owned commercial and publication printer Boyd Brothers, Panama City, Fla., installed its first CutStar in June 2002, and has signed a contract to add a second CutStar in January 2005 with the installation of a new eight-color Heidelberg Speedmaster 102 40" perfector press.

Boyd Brothers president Jim Boyd Jr. initially invested in CutStar after seeking to grow his market by installing a half-web press.

"After being a completely sheetfed shop, we thought we might enter the half-web market," he recalls. "But we soon found it was much easier to go into long perfectors. The quality was better on a sheetfed press, and we found that we could save money on paper costs with CutStar just like we could save money on paper by using a web press with rolls."

Boyd says that being able to buy paper in rolls as opposed to sheets has resulted in substantial savings, thus enabling his company to be more competitive.

"I would say that there is a 20% to 30% savings in rolls versus sheets," he says. "When you take into account that paper makes up 22% to 30% of your costs on a job, it can be a very big savings."

Boyd Brothers's pressroom operators also are enjoying the use of paper rolls versus sheets. Boyd relates that his press operators now prefer rolls over sheets, citing specifically their easier maneuverability and ergonomic friendliness.

Boyd says that his company is now competitive in the web market.

"We still can't beat a web price, but we offer a higher quality," says Boyd. "CutStar has enabled us to take on new jobs and grow our business. A lot of the jobs we take in now are based on lower pricing because we have been able to save so much by purchasing our paper on rolls."

MAN Roland will be unveiling the new digital version of its Roland InlineSheeter Model RS104 at Graph Expo.

This new digital version lets the press operator switch the cutting format in a matter of seconds by showing the format on the control panel, say company officials. No tools or gear changes are required. The advantage of the digital version is a 15-minute faster makeready and more precise cut, MAN Roland states.

Says the manufacturer, the design of the new device is based on the experience of almost 200 installations of its older RB 70 roll sheeter. The new digitally controlled RS104 sheeter is a short-grain version positioned in front of the press feeder. In cases where a long-grain version roll sheeter is required, MAN Roland can provide an appropriately configured RS104, according to the company.

Cut-off adjustments on the RS104, which in the past had to be done manually by changing format gears, now are accomplished by inputting the cut-off length, which is steplessly adjustable between 18" and 29" in the display. Changeover thus is reduced, says MAN Roland, by five to 10 minutes.

The Roland InlineSheeter has unique advantages, says the company, including the ability to process substrates down to 27 lbs. When the sheeted paper is to be run, the roll stand and cross-cutter can be moved by motorized control to park positions, thus providing unrestricted access to the feeder. Further, when changing back to roll-printing mode, small stacks of paper can be left in the feeder, and the operator can easily move from the roll stand to the press to make adjustments.

General Press, Natrona Heights, Pa., is no stranger to roll sheeters, having used them for the past 20 years.

In 2002, Pittsburgh-area General Press installed a new eight-color MAN Roland 708 40" press with in-line anilox coater and in-line roll sheeter. The 15,000-sph press, capable of perfect printing in a seven-over-one configuration if need be, features full RCI and CCI controls, automatic plate loading, and automatic blanket washing. In addition to offering an IR dryer and IR thermal air dryer, the press is equipped with interdeck UV and end-of-press UV dryers. For the printing of synthetic papers, says MAN Roland, ionized air is placed in the delivery, with anti-static controls on each printing unit.

"In the past, we've used right-angle roll sheeters," says James V. Wolff, president of General Press. "The MAN Roland device is our first in-line roll sheeter. For us, the main advantages to using a roll sheeter are sheet size adjustment capability and material cost savings."

He continues, "We estimate that we've saved at least 10% or more in paper costs using rolls instead of cut sheets. In addition, we have the luxury to have more control over the depth of the sheet. Depending on our clients' needs, we can change the dimensions and be more flexible."

Press manufacturers such as KBA, Komori, and Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses also offer roll sheeters but do not manufacture units of their own.

"KBA presses are available with roll sheeters," says KBA North America vice president of marketing Eric Frank. "We are seeing more and more printers asking for roll sheeters, particularly since run lengths have dropped and sheetfed printers are seeking to compete with web printers."

Komori America reports that Johnson Press of America, Pontiac, Ill., has installed an in-line roll sheeter on its four-color Lithrone 440 40" sheetfed press, while the first roll sheeter in the U.S. to be installed on a six-color Lithrone S40 sheetfed press is forthcoming at Dartmouth Printing, Hanover, N.H.

Digital printers, too, are finding benefits to using paper rolls versus cut sheets, and a variety of manufacturers are heeding that call.

Standard Finishing Systems offers the Standard Hunkeler SF-4 roll-to-sheet feeder for in-line operation to the Canon imageRunner 110 and imageRunner Pro 150+, Heidelberg Digimaster 9110/9150, IBM infoprint 2000, Océ Pagestream 158 and Demandstream 4000 DI, and Xerox DocuTech/DocuPrint 180/135 high-speed digital printing systems. Standard's SF-4 offering provides up to 40,000 cut sheets per roll, for up to 20 hours of non-stop printing.

Say Standard officials, one key benefit of the SF-4 system is its ability to supply both 81/2´11" and 11´17" sheets from the same 11"-wide paper roll without any need for a roll change. The SF-4 comprises two major subcomponents: the core-driven quick-set-up unwinder, and the high-speed rotary cutter, which automatically cuts sheets from either pre-printed or unprocessed paper rolls.

"The SF-4 is the perfect solution for high-volume, around-the-clock print-on-demand operations where paper costs, increased productivity, fast turnaround, printer up-time, cutting accuracy, and system reliability are absolutely critical," says David Reny, vice president and managing director for Standard Finishing Systems. "A touch screen interface and tool-less set-up ensure smooth changeover and minimal operator involvement. The system has been designed for a minimum footprint, ease of operation, and unparalleled reliability, and features a consistently accurate cutting system, so every sheet is identical and perfectly square," Reny says.

Roll Systems unveiled at Drupa 2004 its new DocuSheeter DT-Large Format roll-feed system for high-speed digital cut-sheet printers. The DocuSheeter DT-LF feeds large sheets from a roll to Xerox DocuTech 6180 printers, modified to handle the large sheet size necessary to print books in a cost-effective four-up metric format.

At Dallas, Pa.-based Offset Paperback Manufacturers (OPM), a new print-on-demand capability now complements the expansive offset facility on the company's first floor.

There, a Xerox DocuTech 6180 publishing system is fed by a Roll Systems DocuSheeter, and is finished by a C.P. Bourg in-line perfect binder. This on-demand system produces soft-cover textbooks, instructional materials, and a variety of bound galleys that eventually are printed offset for the mass market.

The success of the on-demand capability at OPM, a Bertelsmann company, results in part from the flexibility built into the Book Factory concept.

"With a Roll system on a sheetfed versus continuous-web machine, we have the best of both worlds," says Steve Talacka, project manager for OPM's on-demand operation. "We can use, for example, a 20-lb. bond roll, which is the bulk of what we run on the DocuSheeter, and still accommodate the odd job that may require another paper just by designating another tray. We run the job, then re-engage the Roll system–-it's very simple to do. It may not apply to everyone, but it's perfect for our application. We can queue the jobs so that the system runs continuously for up to eight or 10 hours with the same paper roll."

The roll-to-book system means less operator intervention, too. "With the DocuSheeter," Talacka explains. "All the feeding of trays that preoccupies the operator goes away. We started with three people, and we've grown a lot but not added anyone.

"Plus," he adds, "our Roll equipment really hits its stride when you have more than one printer. With DocuSheeter, you can have one person operating as many as three printers. I'm very confident of that."