Offset still remains the most-cost effective method of print for larger runs, while manufacturers aim to shift the price-point down, so as to compete with digital on smaller runs. Some 70 per cent of print is still produced by offset, and the manufacturers are all active in creating new developments to improve efficiency, performance and productivity.

Heidelberg is leveraging the value of data in identifying and fixing weak spots in printers’ workflows.

Richard Timson, managing director Australia/New Zealand, Heidelberg says “Predominantly, most of the advancements are in technology, as innovations for sheetfed offset are increasingly software driven. We are still working on shortening makeready times and enhancing presses, making them as automatic as we can.”

Heidelberg says it is constantly enhacing automating plate-changes to shorten the time needed to switch between print runs.

Its fifth-generation AutoPlate technology for fast, automatic plate changes at the touch of a button saves valuable makeready time, while the inline Inpress control system shortens setup times by automatically adjusting the lateral, circumferential and diagonal registers, and colour without operator intervention while the press is running.

As for the presses, Timson singles out the XL75, the CX-75 and CS 92 Speedmaster as its best sellers. “The CX-75 is a lower budget mid-sized A2 machine that runs board well. That is the latest from Heidelberg, it follows the same design as the CX, which is popular among printers.”
With packaging printing applications a fast growing market segment in print, the ability to print on board is invaluable.

Timson continues, “For us the CS 92 Speedmaster has also had a great introduction. It is quite popular around the world, especially in Germany.”

The company says the CS 92 achieves printing speeds of up to 15,000 sheets an hour. As a cost-effective press for the production of brochures, catalogues and flyers, Heidelberg says printers benefit from 20 percent cheaper printing plates than the 70×100 cm format.

Timson says, “In an effort to work out the lowest cost for makeready sheets, the link between presses and MIS systems to draw out valuable press data is important to Heidelberg.
“It allows us to work out weak spots in a company’s production workflow. We are analysing the presses, and doing as much training and upskilling of the press operators and production processes so they can be as efficient as they can be.

He says the global print market has seen a decrease in print runs, and run sizes, and as a result the focus is not only on maximum speed and output, but also total efficiency.

“People can maximise output with fast makeready and presses, but the industry issue is at the moment is not enough work for them.

“All the people with the latest technology are reaping the rewards in their margins,” says Timson.
KBA is focusing on its LED-UV technology, with representatives having recently returned from a LED-UV conference in Germany.

Dave Lewis, director, KBA Australasia, says “We have taken up the development of the technology, as we believe it is the future. Japan and America have taken it up, and Australia will follow suit.

“We have a lot of knowledge on LED-UV, and good relationships with ink suppliers,” says Lewis.
As with all offset sheetfed press manufacturers, KBA is focusing on automation to reduce makeready and waste.

On most of its Rapida sheetfed offset presses, plate changing is performed either fully automatically, or simultaneously with its DriveTronic SPC technology.

What leads the pack is its KBA Rapida 106, with the highest level of automation, allowing for non-stop job changeovers, which the company calls FlyingJob Change.

KBA explains its DriveTronic Plate Ident is a camera-based system which determines the proper positioning of the printing plates during a fully automatic plate change. Special register marks on the plate enable Plate Ident to detect the presence of a plate and at the same time to check its correct insertion into the plate clamps. The company says this automation option is exclusive to KBA-Sheetfed and contributes to further makeready savings at job changeovers, enabling saleable production to re-commence with practically no need for adjustment.

Once the new plates are correctly positioned in all the units to be changed, the automatic process is enabled and plate changing begins.

DriveTronic Plate Ident is now offered by the company as an option for all presses with FAPC plate changers. That means that the half-format presses Rapida 75 PRO and Rapida 76 can also be configured with this additional automation function for FAPC in future.
Lewis says, “Years ago it took a couple of hours to makeready, and now it can be done in seven to eight minutes. They run a lot faster on shorter runs than they used to, the competition from digital has made it necessary.

“Direct drive simultaneous plate change allows all plates to be changed in 60 seconds.

“It is all about ultra quick makereadys, and presses suited for short runs. It is a global trend, but especially in Australia, where we deal with much smaller volumes of print.”

Greg Knight is the general manager of Cyber (Aust) Pty Ltd, which supplies Ryobi presses in Australia. He says one of the company’s main focuses is on LED UV technology which can printed jobs to be delivered totally dry and achieve power savings of up to 90 per cent when compared to a conventional UV system. Improved automation which helps to reduce makeready times to a minimum is also another key focus.

Knight says, “Ryobi has been promoting LED-UV technology  in conjunction with Panasonic. They are now 10 years down the track and with continual improvements being developed version three of our LED UV technology is in full production. As a result to this commitment we are market leaders in the area.”

Ryobi’s RMGT 920PF-8 series, its eight colour perfecting model is the company most popular sheetfed offset press in Australia, says Knight.

“Some of the key features of our presses are that they are easy to operate and they have a full-range of automation functions which enable quick registration and colour correctness to be achieved resulting minimal sheet wastage.

“Feedback from our customers indicate to us that the machines A1 size makes it not only an extremely productive press but also a highly profitable press.

“This feedback is based on the initial outlay being less than a full B1 sized press, and then added to this our customers benefit from the ongoing running costs being less than the B1 sized press.

“Plates are 27 per cent less, all consumables are less and electrical consumption is significantly less than a B1 size press.

“With margins constantly being squeezed any savings that can be gained add to the overall suitability of this press.

“Another benefit offered by LED UV technology is if the job has postpress elements, there is no delay time. It does not matter what type of stock the job may be printed on it can go straight to the bindery for cutting, folding, and ultimately quick delivery to the customer.”

“With the LED UV technology ensuring all printed products are delivered totally dry offset technology is brought into line with digital.”

For the RMGT 9 series presses, the range of technology innovations continue to improve and now include an in-line quality control system, the PQS-D.

Knight says, “It is a camera system which enables in-line inspection for register, colour control and quality control. It inspects every sheet and if necessary makes corrections automatically whilst printing.

The latest presses also come with a 55-inch display screen.

Knight says, “You can see at all times what is happening while you are printing. Some of the information to be accessed includes viewing the sheets in the feeder, travelling down the feedtable, through the press and also how the colour is trending.

“With customers requiring productive and profitable solutions RyobiMHI presses can meet these demands.”

David Gunn, is the sales manager for the North Region (Australia) & New Zealand, for Print & Pack, which supplies Komori presses. Gunn says for Komori, “The latest developments move away from the press, they are software related.

“Komori sheetfed offset has achieved minimum waste, fast makeready and high print quality. This is what Komori has been concentrating on. They call it offset on demand. It is all about productivity today, as it was in the past.”

Komori released its latest Lithrone model in January, the GLX944 44-inch press, which came with a host of automated features.

The company describes it as the ultimate one-pass double-sided printing press. The 44-inch H-UV·UV-equipped features single-edge gripping and eliminates sheet reversal. Komori says that single-edge gripping makes the margin on the tail edge of the sheets unnecessary, enabling paper costs to be cut by minimising the sheet size.

H-UV is a hybrid green drying system, says Gunn. It does not discharge ozone, thanks to the reduction of light emitted in the ozone-generating wavelength of the spectrum that occurs with conventional UV lamps. H-UV does not use powder, and is nearly odourless, says Komori.

It adds that eliminating sheet reversal ensures stable sheet transport that can handle light or heavy stocks through the use of four double-size transfer cylinders. Front/back plate imaging is in the same direction, just as with single-sided presses.

The press offers a maximum printing speed of 15,000 sheets per hour, and thanks to the 44-inch maximum sheet size, users can ensure high quality and high productivity in publication printing (magazines and books) and in duplex package printing.

Komori groups its optional additions and innovations for the press around the system OffsetOnDemand, which it says meets short run and fast turnaround needs.
It does this across three facets, the first of which is its software, The KHS Advanced Interface, or KHS-AI.

The company describes KHS as a productivity enhancement system that facilitates short makereadies by means of quick register adjustment and colour matching. A further evolution of the system, KHS-AI contributes to shorter changeover times, reduced paper loss and less press downtime by means of a self-learning function that optimises various preset data as well as air and register preset functions that ensure stable sheet feeding and delivery. The system includes a self-diagnostic function for troubleshooting.

The second is its Print Density Control System Series, or PDC Series. This digitises and automates colour on printed sheets that was previously adjusted and managed by the subjective sense of the operator. Komori says this contributes to shorter changeovers, reduced paper waste and print standardisation.

Then, there is the PQA Series (Print Quality Assessment System Series), which allows high level colour control by means of in-line print quality inspection

All of this information is seen on KID (Komori Info-Service Display).

KID is an operation support system that provides information needed by the operator at the right time in an easy-to-understand format. Supporting multifunctional, complex printing systems, KID enables high productivity by contributing to quick, accurate decisions by the operator. Information from KHS-AI, PDC Series and PQA Series can be displayed on KID.

Australia’s division of manroland is known as the market-leader in web offset presses, also having a strong footing in sheefed throughout the commercial and packaging sectors.
Product specialist for manroland, Mark Hawkey says “manroland’s integrated press control and monitoring systems enhance the presses capabilities for better quality control with a decreased make-ready time. It’s all about more sheets on the floor per hour.”

Dennis Wickham, managing director, manroland Australasia says, “Digital is having an impact on the industry for sure, but the demand for offset presses is still strong. We see offset as a major player in the sheetfed printing industry. We see our customers needing not only press efficiencies but lower cost of ownership, the new Evolution offers this.”  

For the Roland 700 Evolution press, innovations like Inline ColorPilot, Inline Register and Inline Inspector take care of quality reviewing the image and colour without having to remove a sheet from the machine.

The company’s Inline Foiling technology now includes Indexing, which reduces material wastage by 20-60 per cent per job.

As one of the several improvements for its new generation of Roland 700 Evolution, the Simultaneous Plate Loading (SPL) technology has been recognised for significant reductions in make-ready time by printer all over the world.

The SPL system enables the plates in all printing units to be changed at the same time. Blanket and impression cylinders can be washed automatically parallel to the plate change, which can dramatically reduce the job change-over time from 11 minutes into 4 minutes on a typical six-colour press in viewing of small job change without roller washing procedure.

For ultimate efficiency, Direct Drive technology is available. This allows for many parallel functions to be performed like washing rollers and plating up at the same time or washing blankets at the same time as washing up rollers, significantly reducing makerady.

The 700 Evolution reaches printing speed of 18000 sheets per hour, with the flexibility to configure each press to meet individual customer requirements.

Sheetfed offset printing has come a long way n a few years, with today’s generation of presses enabling printers to compete effectively in their traditional markets and new areas such as short run and packaging.

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