World's Largest Cutter at Drupa

Ergonomics, covered briefly last month in this section, becomes an increasingly important factor in product design and in enhancing worker productivity. It also has a large impact on the well-being of employees, and so will be key to developments of machines being shown at drupa.

Heidelberg has taken a scientific approach to ergonomics, helping schedule start-up routines on its latest machines by promoting operators to move through start-up stages in the most efficient sequence possible. The firm's new KH82 Stahl folders speed makeready through automation improvements, helping the operator shave 80% of the set-up for cross-folds. KBA has developed its machine console—appropriately named ErgoTronic—to raise and lower to meet the optimal working height for whichever individual operator is at the controls.

Muller Martini, as reported last issue, will make ergonomics and the human-machine interface a key component of its drupa presentation. In a preview position paper citing the work of Dr. Thomas Maier, an expert in human-machine interfacing, the firm notes that. . .

Protecting worker health can be a particularly complex task in a printer's postpress department or in bookbinding facilities. Cutting, folding, collating, gluing, saddlestitching and other processes each present unique ergonomic problems which need to be solved.

Avoiding excessive standing on hard floors and refraining from leaning forward are other ergonomic rules of thumb. Repetitive bending also is very dangerous, as exhibited by the frequent muscle, spine and joint injuries that occur in personnel who are assigned to such tasks.

Another ergonomic challenge involves working with material that is positioned at an incorrect height. This causes damage to the employee's musculoskeletal system and also results in operator errors. The ergonomic solution is to make systems that are more adjustable, so they can adapt to the different height requirements of different workers.

Anyone working at a machine wants to be able to set it up, operate it and maintain it with ease. The design of controls that function intuitively and the development of handle shapes that accommodate the human touch are therefore very important.

“Easy operability makes a considerable positive difference to being competitive nowadays,” says Professor Maier. “It also prevents operator errors, reducing machine downtime, which improves productivity.”

Ergonomics dictates that all operating elements are arranged by function, according to their importance, and are easy to reach. Ergonomic design also ensures that changing settings from job-to-job is as automated as possible. Clearly visible and easy-to-understand text, graphics and controls (touchscreens for example) also help to make certain that the machine and its operator understand each other. “Help” functions, meanwhile, make it easier for employees to work independently and get the job done correctly. Machines also need to be designed to prevent accidents and allow easy access for maintenance.

In addition to its oblique positioning for unnamed products now being unveiled in Hall 14 B38, Muller Martini will also be collaborating with other companies and exhibiting at other halls at drupa: a 4-color offset printing press will be demonstrated under production conditions with integrated 2-color digital printing at the Kodak booth in Hall 5 D01. This demonstration will be of interest to printers in the direct mail and security segments. In Hall 6 / B03 at the Palamides booth, Muller Martini is exhibiting a saddlestitcher in combination with a banding unit, and, at the Océ booth in Hall 6 / A44 and the Xerox booth in Hall 8b / A78, drupa visitors are seeing digital book production with SigmaLine components.

Muller Martini is unveiling its own new generation of machines at the show. It is presenting the new Primera saddlestitcher line engineered for premium performance. The company is keeping the look of the new machine a secret until May 29.

Zechini appeared at the last drupa in a prominent automated bookbinding line integrated to Xerox equipment. The company notes that its integrated system VIP Book Line, being shown in Hall 14, has been designed to offer the possibility to operate both inline and offline. The variety of formats, from 13×20´´ down to 3×5´´ is a demonstration of the high versatility of the system for large-format jobs.

The VIP Book Line is composed by the sequence of the machines which makes the different phases of book processing: it starts with VIP Press end paper, continues with VIP Gauze and the three-knife trimmer; then to VIP Ribbon, to insert the ribbon in the middle of the book; then the VIP Banding, VIP Round, VIP Case and at the end the VIP Forming. See it in Hall 14 Booth CO4 or at www.zechini.it/vipbook

Inpro from the Netherlands, which has specialized in large-format digital and screenprinting offerings is introducing something very big at drupa: an extremely large cutter. The jumbo Inpro Cutter is available from 7´ wide to up to 17.4´ wide—big enough so very large materials can be maneuvered and rotated on the cutting table and inside the machine. In fact, Inpro calls it “the world's largest cutter.” Devised for large-format screen prints, billboards and digital prints, Inpro is testing to see if the increased adoption of large-format presses might open the door for a very large cutter like this. It can handle a lift up to 4´´ thick, and the description of it indicates it has a 31´´ front table, with hydraulic lifts, air table, programmable cutting and other features found on automated cutters.

Inpro says it has also developed the cutter in response to requests from largeformat screen printers and who are producing rigid materials that cannot be cut in the existing cutters, because they are too hard to cut, or too soft and will be crashed by the cutter.

Inpro has engineered a hydraulic system for the knife and the pressure beam, enabling the cutting of materials like corex, cardboard and other open materials. The pressure and speed of the knife, and the pressure beam, can be adjusted to match the material requirement.

“With this system the customer is much more flexible in cutting a wide range of harder plastics,” says Inpro technician Paul Munten. Several printers cut over 1 cm (almost 0.5´´) thickness of material so they do not need to saw it. “Due to the high quality and economic pricing, we also see more and more KBA and MAN Roland offset printers working with the Inpro Cutter.”

The core of the Inpro Cutter was developed more than 25 years ago, and over the years, safety has become increasingly important for cutting machines. As a result, the Model 2008 of the Inpro Cutter has been modified to the safety standard EN-1010. These modifications include: a safety pin to prevent the knife from coming down, easy knife-change system, and guards to cover all moving parts to protect personnel from injury.