Perfectors: Booming

There's more than one side to the story on sheetfed perfectors. In fact, printers have found as many sides to two-sided printing as there are markets and applications for the machines. As GAM learned in speaking to firms around the country, perfectors are pretty much perfected in the mechanical sense. So, in making equipment selections, printers are likely to adopt the configuration, platform and brand that best suits the work on hand.

In practice, this means print businesses will sometimes even place two different brands and formats side by side, dedicated to particular types of jobs. Concord Litho has a pair of large-format perfectors in its Concord, NH plant—a 63´´ MAN Roland 806 that prints 6-over-1 and a 64´´ 7-over-1 KBA Rapida—both perfectly well suited to its calendar and greeting card work that tends to be color one side, monochrome the other.

Dayton Newspapers, meanwhile, just added a two-up format 4-over-4 Heidelberg SM 52—the longest SM 52 in North America—when it found demand for newspaper inserts required quality color on both sides.

Dual-sided sheetfeds are all booming in popularity, from paper-saving, single-gripper style tandems (two sets of color units aligned in sequence) to staggered “stacked-unit” versions, as well as classic, sheet-turning perfectors (requiring two gripper edges). Whether 40´´ standard (6-color or less), long (8 or more units), narrow (20´´), mid-size (29´´) or a combination of these, presses that print front and back in a single pass are going into all types of operations. Like their straight printing counterparts, perfectors are adapting hybrid and UV formats, providing special advantages for speedy delivery, including Web-to-print work.

ColourPress Inc., Rancho Cordova, CA, operates a dedicated division, Printcp.com, to output Web-entered orders on a 40´´ Komori Lithrone. The 2-over-2 press features coater and autoplate to get jobs on and off in a hurry. Phoenix Marketing Services added a 10-color Mitsubishi Diamond 3000TP tandem perfector at its Claremont, CA plant, the first such 10-color with twin coating units in the U.S. The tandem employs a three-cylinder transfer Translink unit without tumbling the sheet. In Phoenix's double-coater arrangement, tower coaters are located before and after the Translink unit.

More automated and more reliable than ever, the new-generation convertible perfectors change over with push-button simplicity. Coupled with advances in transfer mechanics, sheet handling, inking and interstation curing—including the acceptance of flash-cured UV coating—wet-side marking and front-to-back register issues are falling away. Marking, the great bug-a-boo of perfector work, has been ameliorated in a number of ways. Anti-marking transfer cylinder jackets, whether OEM or supplied by sources like Printing Research Inc., have been greatly improved. Venturi fans that guide and float wet sheets above the machinery have also helped, as have inventive sheet stabilization technologies and vacuum belt sheet transports.

Because straight presses run faster, up to 18,000 sheets per hour, perfector models have also sped up, as high as 15,000 sph. Braking systems must slow sheets at delivery, lest they clash and mark.

Perfectors take on the same peripherals and productivity-enhancing features of straight presses, too. Roll-feeds are also gaining traction in the market, with offerings including Heidelberg's CutStar, and Maxcess, Mabeg and custom-built roll converters. For a while, sheetfeds had outstripped roll converter speeds. Re-engineered to keep up, sheeters provide the added advantage of delivering precision-cut lead and tail edges. (It is not uncommon for press operators to request pre-trimming of folio-sized paper stocks to improve mechanical register when the tail becomes the gripper edge.)

The big news is not only what's new, but what's next. Sakurai is said to be readying a 31´´ perfector platform to debut at Graph Expo. Heidelberg, meanwhile, is set to launch a line of perfectors in its expanding XL family. Culminating a multi-year development program, Heidelberg will unveil its first large-format presses at drupa—the 56´´ XL142 and 64´´ XL162, aimed at commercial and packaging work.

“They will be available immediately in up to 10 colors and as perfectors,” Jim Dunne, president of Heidelberg U.S., told printers gathered for the firm's Premiere VIP Packaging Inforum last month. (Heidelberg says it will also offer CTP systems to accommodate the larger machines.) A perfector version of the popular 41´´ XL105 also is reportedly in testing, and is expected to make an appearance at drupa as well.

Akiyama has engineered a succession of upgrades to its Jprint, including roll-to-sheet converter, UV curing at delivery, ability to perfect Bible papers, a wider 32´´ model and, lately, double-sided coating. For this, the print sequence is: 4/4 color printing, followed by coating and drying of the front face, then coating and drying of the back. The coater unit and drying unit use double-size transfer cylinders (see GAM March 2007, p.19). UV lamps are installed above and below the two double-sized cylinders. The company also builds sheeters for the press.

MAN Roland relaunched its Roland 700 series (on facing page) in March, with the HiPrint and DirectDrive models. In the latter, the plate cylinder is declutched and driven by a high torque motor mounted on the cylinder journal, so plates can be changed simultaneously in all printing units while other job changeover processes, such as blanket washing, take place. (Mitsubishi has a Simulchanger feature that allows all its plates to be changed simultaneously as well.)

Hartmut Hübner, MAN VP sheetfed press engineering, sees a widening gap in recent years between the concentrated segment of highly industrialized print firms and many more locations of small- to medium-sized printers. HiPrint is geared in basic models either for printers who want a high-performance press in a simple 4- or 5-color configuration and don't need the very latest automation equipment, or for those who want to add industrial-scale inline finishing such as coating, double coating, UV, embossing, cold foil transfer, etc. Standard configurations comprise the 2-, 4- and 5-color presses as well as short perfectors for 1/1, 2/2, 1/4 and 2/3 printing.

The 700 DirectDrive is aimed at printers with a higher than average number of job changeovers, 10 or more per shift, and run lengths below 5,000. DirectDrive is also geared for long perfectors with 8, 10 and 12 printing units producing volumes of perfecting work. It can reduce makeready time by as much as 60%, says MAN. It is rated at 17,000 sph in straight printing and 13,000 sph in perfecting. For long-perfector configurations, a useful function is deactivation of printing units not in use. Other features include new pile-edge scanning and new sheet infeed control with automatic correction of early, late and misaligned sheets. (See KBA's SIS system as well, described below.) Also, DirectDrive uses an AirGlide delivery, suction device for powder and odor, and powder removal with suction at the delivery gripper systems.

Komori, which offers top-of-the-line Lithrone perfectors (the firm saw its longest 105´ installation go into ColorDynamics in Dallas), also positions its SuperPerfector as a tool for Web-to-print applications. In March it showed the press running real-time Web-to-print production, fed by digital storefront programs from EFI, Pageflex, Press-Sense and XMPie. Komori also hosted live demonstrations last month of the single-gripper SuperPerfector in open house demonstrations of the Web-to-print and quick-turnaround work at California printers Modern Postcard and 4Over Inc.

Advances in the technology of perfectors were detailed when GAM examined the subject in the July 2006 issue. Recent installations show how improvements in operability are redefining roles for perfectors. Book printing is a good example, with demands for good register on two sides in the folio pages, and full color over one or two colors in covers and other components. King Printing, a family owned book component printer in Lowell, MA, installed a 5-color Speedmaster CD 74 perfector in March. The firm replaced an older model with this one, which features an inline coating unit for aqueous coatings, extended delivery and a DryStar combination dryer for UV and IR curing.

“We increased the capacity in our pressroom to maintain and improve our company's reputation for fast turnaround,” says Adi Chinai, joint managing director. The press is used primarily for component printing: covers, inserts and endsheets. King Printing serves the educational and trade book markets, providing books in quantities from 100 to 50,000. With sales volume “in the double-digit millions,” says Chinai, “we've carved out a niche catering to short-run, quick-turnaround customers requiring fast time-to-market.” That's critical as book printers contend with Chinese competitors.

Genesis Press, which has opened a new 60,000-sq.ft. plant after relocating from Hialeah, FL, to Piedmont, SC, brought on two 40´´ Mitsubishi Diamond 3000s, one a lightly used 6-color straight machine, the other a 4-unit convertible perfector. Replacing ancient 2- and 4-color Miller perfectors, both feature aqueous tower coaters.

KBA reports book plants are adopting its large-format sheetfed perfectors, taking on roles that might be expected of web offset lines—two large North American book printers have just added 8-color, 4-over-4 56´´ Rapida 142 perfectors.

Front-to-back register is important in book work, and improving incoming register enhances the perfecting process down the line. KBA says one-third of its 105s, including perfectors, are now ordered with SIS, which simplifies sheet feeding and aligning at high running speeds, even with frequent changes between different printing substrates. Thirty machines with SIS were delivered to KBA customers in 2005; this year, it expects to see eight or nine times that number.

In place of traditional mechanical or pneumatic sidelays, incoming sheets are first braked, then stabilized in the front lays and aligned at the sidelay tabs. That happens in a pulling process involving many subsidiary steps before the sheet goes through the swing infeed. A sensor continually scans the edge of the sheet.

The gripper bar is pre-aligned in the single-revolution transfer drum according to the information transmitted about the position of the sheet edge. That way, the bar is already roughly aligned when it receives the sheet. Precise lateral displacement of the gripper bar enables the sheet to be exactly positioned before being transferred to the first impression cylinder. The incoming sheet can be adjusted precisely along the entire route from the swing gripper to the first impression cylinder. At 18,000 sph, straight mode translates to five sheets per second; at 15,000 sph, perfecting is still significant, at around four sheets per second.

Automated features that speed throughput provide double the benefits when incorporated into dual-sided runs. Cleveland's Consolidated Graphics Group added a 5-over-5 102-10-6P Speedmaster perfector.

“We are always seeking faster turnaround, higher quality and competitive pricing for clients,” says CEO Kenneth Lanci. Makeready takes as little as eight minutes, he notes, owing to a built-in spectrophotometer. “The press is capable of comparing the printed image to the digital image from prepress and then automatically makes ink corrections,” Lanci says, adding, “With a single-pass press, there's no problem with powder build-up on the blankets, as one would have during a second pass.”

Among the longest perfectors in the U.S. is a specialized 16-unit Heidelberg Duo press at Williamson Printing in Dallas. The Duo press—defined by the placement of flexo imprinting units prior to the offset units, is configured with a unique arrangement for underlaying thick coatings of ink that are cured, then overprinted. The effects can be seen in the famously beautiful Print Council piece, Why Print (www.printcouncil.org).

The feed system is in use on special coating presses, such as a 14-unit Rapida 105 at Bolger Vision Beyond Print, Minneapolis. “The SIS is the best sidelay feature we've seen on a press,” says Don Smith, pressroom manager at Bolger. “Everything is automatic. We don't have to worry about setting up the side guide for different types of stock.” Another positive feature of the SIS, says Smith, “is that it has no side guide wheel and, therefore, we have no side guide wheel marks.” Bolger's press also permits dual-sided UV coating and curing, another protection against marking on compatible jobs.

Dayton Newspapers' long perfector Speedmaster SM 52 20´´ 8-color perfector features Prinect Axis Control color measuring system. Running color pre-prints for insertion into four daily and six weekly newspapers, Dayton's George Bomberry, packaging/print department manager, chose it to replace a 52 4-color. “The SM 52 press was an excellent fit for us initially,” says Bomberry, “and our business grew at an astonishing rate. In a little over two years of operation, we produced more than 120 million pieces or 60 million impressions.” The new press is configured as a long perfector and features an optimized sheet transfer system with TransferJacket, PerfectJacket and sheet guides to minimize marking. A reduced-diameter perfecting drum is fitted with TransferJacket as well. Specialized air panels and suction tape sheet brakes maximize available print area on both sides.

“The bulk of our work is 8.5×11´´ work, mostly single-sheet, and mostly less than 75,000 copies, with many short-run jobs around 5,000 to 10,000 copies,” says Bolger's Smith. “It can produce these two-up jobs at a rate of 25,000 to 30,000 finished pieces per hour.”

A Prinect Axis Control color management system has only made it better for Dayton. “The improvements in productivity and inking consistency are dramatic,” says Bomberry. “Printing in the perfecting mode has been flawless, and one-pass printing has increased our throughput better than two-fold.”

At Mossberg and Co., South Bend, IN, dual-sided coating was the deciding factor when the firm ordered a 40´´ 12-color Speedmaster SM102 12P perfector, says Mike Vandenburg, VP of operations. It arrived in February last year. “We were looking for one that had the ability to print four colors plus a PMS color, plus do aqueous coating on both sides,” says Vandenburg. After shopping three other suppliers in 2005, at the time, “We saw that Heidelberg was further along in their coating two-side technology and they were able to demonstrate and prove what the press could do.”

Mossberg liked the CPC 24 scanning spectrophotometer and Pre-Set Plus for presetting feeder and delivery. “The spectrophotometer provides very accurate color control on the press,” he says. “The feeder-delivery allows for exact feed-through and delivery with no marking issues. Marking is also avoided because 70% of our work is aqueous coated to seal the sheet.”

Cylinder jackets for resisting marking vary greatly in life-span, depending on the type of substrates being run, the number of impressions and good maintenance.

Maximum Graphics, a unit of Consolidated Graphics Companies, installed an 8-color MAN Roland R708-PLV press at its Chaska, MN plant in January. “When we researched presses, this was the one that had a large enough transfer cylinder to run the heavier stocks we use,” says Craig Mandery, president, who adds that competitive pricing was also a factor in the decision. The firm's work is mainly direct mail products on 14- to 16-point stock, with 40,000 to 50,000 average run lengths. “We do not use UV and rarely aqueous coat,” notes Mandery.

“Another feature we liked was the color management system,” he says. “The press interfaces with prepress, who do the initial set-up on the job. It maintains color consistency throughout each run. It also provides a bar chart so you can accept or override the makeready; 95% percent of the time we can accept its adjustments. Automatic plate hanging is all set up at the console. The accessories of a dryer, and both roller and blanket washers appealed to us, too.”

A 6-over-6 Mitsubishi Double Diamond 3000R tandem perfector was installed last September in the pressroom at Dallas-based Buchanan Visual Communications. With two coating units that can apply either aqueous or UV and three drying units, the press totals 17 units.

President Dave Johnson says the firm began adding Mitsubishi platforms several years ago as the complexion of its jobs changed. “At that time, we were running a lot of 1-over-1 and 2-over-2 jobs,” he notes, work that wasn't a good fit for an existing 10-color Speedmaster. “More recently, we were running magazines, catalogs and product brochures which are 6-over-6 with coating.” The format of the older 10-color perfector “required a printing unit to be changed to a coater, which meant we were down to 5-over-5.”

Labor savings have helped finance the press, which “has cut our labor costs in half, since we produce the same amount of work with half the labor,” says Johnson. “With operator salaries of $60,000 a year and three shifts that's a big savings. However, there was significant re-training due to the new capabilities of this press.

“It opened up potential markets to us because we can run hybrid UV, UV and conventional inks, and run on plastic substrates. One of the benefits of hybrid inks is that when the substrate comes off the press, it's dry, which has significantly decreased turn-around time on jobs.”

Dean Demers, president of Ultra Graphics, Columbus, NE, started up an Adast 747P, 4-color 2-over-2 perfector last August. “The change-over only takes 15 minutes. There is a sensor in every unit. If a sheet is not caught properly in a gripper, all the impression units open at once.”

Demers also likes the compact press size. “At our plant, floor space is at a premium, and you have to pay for brick and mortar forever. This 26´´ inch press has a much smaller footprint than the bigger presses. The automated features are good. It is networked with the platesetter; ink setting is sent and automatically set; automatic plate loaders do all the bending while they are being mounted; and we can re-use old plates versus burning new ones, which is a significant cost savings. We only run uncoated stock and a great deal of low-cost, black-and-white and 2-color work.”

“We looked at this manufacturer plus Heidelberg, Mitsubishi, Komori and MAN Roland,” says Gus Gonzalez, plant manager at Printing Corp. of the Americas, “and it was the Akiyama that had a stacked perfector with a footprint to fit our building. The others were another 20´ long.

“On most perfectors there are two grippers,” Gonzalez continues. “This means that when running an 8.5×11´´ booklet, you have to go up to a stock that is 24×36´´ to accommodate the two gripper edges. This Akiyama only has one gripper, allowing us to use smaller stock.”

He adds that PCA could see the superior print quality firsthand. “Both printed sides were identical and the dots were sharp—we were not able to distinguish which was printed down,” Gonzalez says, adding, “We are a publication printer for the most part. We've run 60-lb. stock with heavy ink coverage 2-sides at 9,000 per hour. There aren't a lot of bells and whistles, so it is simple and operator-friendly. We can print saleable sheets in 30 to 40 minutes, including hanging the plates and the two makereadies.

“On the first three lower units there are hot air bars that blow on the blanket to dissipate the humidity from the plate in order to avoid set-off. But we have to balance your ink and water very well,” he concludes.

ONLINE EXTRAS: See perfectors in video action at www.graphicartsmonthly.com: Adast, Akiyama, Heidelberg, KBA, Komori, MAN Roland, Mitsubishi, Sakurai