Newspaper & Mailroom
One Touch: Newspapers to be Produced at the Touch of a Button
Tuesday 28. October 2008 - manroland bases its developments on market requirements and presents the press concept of tomorrow - with One Touch newspaper production will be fully automatic in the future as seen in the autoprint press series.
The new focus of the manroland newspaper press portfolio is based on the requirements of the market. The innovations include future control concepts, as well as the fastest possible makeready processes and a printing process that is fully automated to a large degree. The vision: printing at the push of a button, with only one person at a single control console. With its new autoprint press series, manroland has taken some important essential steps towards full automation.
One the way to One Touch: APL and APL logistics
The APL and APL logistics fully automated plate change systems by manroland are pioneering developments on the way to fully automated printing. APL is the automatic plate change system featuring a robot arm, which was developed by manroland in cooperation with KUKA. The entire plate change takes place fully automatically. Equipped with vacuum suction heads, the robot arm removes the old plates from the cylinder and replaces them with new ones. This limits the change-over process to a mere three minutes. APL was already introduced back in 2007 and can boast a considerable success story today. The pilot customers Saar-brücker Zeitung, Osnabrücker Zeitung, and Freie Presse Chemnitz will be the first ones to use APL in daily operations by the turn of the year. The Mannheimer Morgen, Mittelbayerische Zeitung in Regensburg, and a customer in Germany, who wants to remain unnamed for now, are three newspaper publishers who have decided on this new technology.
To make the change process even more effective, manrolands engineers developed APL logistics. APL logistics stands for an integrated workflow in the print shop. The system enables an almost fully automatic plate change process – with APL logistics only the disk storage must be loaded manually by the operator in the sound insulated room. They are moved into the loading position fully automatically via a rail transport system. APL logistics equally focuses on a reduction in change-over time, ergonomics and for the printer a stress-free working without exposure to airborne noise, structure-borne noise and aerosols emitted by the printing press. In addition, the entire change-over process is integrated in manroland’s printnet work-flow concept. This results in modern data handling and plate logistics management without the currently prevalent need for manual logistics between the prepress and press.
What is autoprint?
However, the claim to offer a fully automated printing process in the near future not only includes systems for automation and a reduction in change-over times. Suitable systems for presetting, control systems for color and cut-off register, web tension control and ink density and dampening solution control are equally important. These features help manroland to partially implement the One Touch vision today and represent the first step towards fully automatic production – with the new man-roland autoprint press series. If one examines the possible technical features of the individual printing phases (outgoing, change-over, ramp up and production run), it soon becomes apparent that the claim to create an autoprint printing press will soon become a reality and the vision will become a solution. The aim is to carry out outgoing, change-over, ramp up, and production mode without any interference by the operator. Presetting reduces waste to a minimum and fixes it at set values. The ink zones of the presses should only be operated in exceptional cases and remain blocked. manroland is making straightforward progress in all these areas. The crucial operations of a printing process have already been synchronized. The functions related to the presetting systems are controlled by manroland’s Quickstart system. Quickstart includes modules that are already effective during the outgoing. This way, the press is both stopped in a waste-reducing way and prepared for the following production run in terms of processes and data. The proven manroland ClosedLoop systems operate directly within the press, thus guaranteeing an automatically adjusted, constantly high quality throughout the entire print run. One ex-ample is the CutCon C system developed by manroland for cut-off register control. The system decreases the amount of preparatory work and enhances the quality. At 50 meters per minute, automatic webbing-up to the former is the fastest on the market. The new automatic InlineTension Control keeps the web tension constant in the critical web guide area between the printing unit and the folder superstructure.
Competence in wet offset
Based on the experiences gained in the area of ink and dampening solution control manroland is able to further automize and optimize the wet offset process. Inline-Density Control e.g reduces waste and offers a constant quality throughout the entire production mode. From the listed technical features it becomes apparent that autoprint leads to a fully automated operation of the printing press in all key areas of printing. The presented automation modules allow efficient operation coupled with guaranteed high quality – for all requirements for contemporary newspaper printing. manroland has created a new and modern standard for newspaper printing that was not possible until now.
Modern operating concepts
To top it off, the new press series are easier to operate. The new, height reduced printing units offer the following advantages:
Access to the printing unit is always ensured, even during operation.
You can access the printing units via hoists or printing lifts.
Automation modules such as APL and APL logistics can therefore be retrofitted at any time in the future.
The new design does not lengthen the press system, and a low design facilitates handling and maintenance.
Modern operating concepts, substantially reduced makeready processes with APL and APL logistics, as well as the new autoprint functions in the ClosedLoop area, constitute manroland’s One Touch vision. Or to put it in other words: the vision of automated printing is becoming a reality.