Offset Printing
PrintCity Success with Research Publications plus a New Ultra Wide Web Project for 2009
Friday 31. October 2008 - The PrintCity Alliance has achieved significant success with three recent publications and has made printed versions of all of them available to order on its Internet shop due to customer interest
The PrintCity Alliance has achieved significant success with three recent publications and has made printed versions of all of them available to order on its Internet shop due to customer interest:
· Value Added Printing of Newspapers (VAPoN) Resource Book
· Energy Efficiency Optimisation for Web Offset Printers
· Sustainability, Energy & Environment
At IfraExpo 2008, PrintCity members UPM, Trelleborg, Sun Chemical, MEGTEC and manroland give an update on these successful publications, overview a new Ultra Wide Web Offset project for 2009 and introduce an additional new focus area for the period until 2010.
PrintCity members network and share knowledge, to bring better understanding to the market on complex subjects and to promote the value of print. Members such as manroland, MEGTEC, Sun Chemical, Trelleborg and UPM can talk with higher competence about trends, technology and applications, because they network so closely within a group of other leading equipment & consumable suppliers in the industry.
Value Added Printing of Newspapers (VAPoN) Resource Book
Newspapers are changing and customers need a different and more complete understanding of the issues and opportunities for the production of value added newspapers. This was the reason that PrintCity Alliance members started the Value Added Printing of Newspapers (VAPoN) project in 2006, concluding with the publication of the 36-page VAPoN Resource Book in 2008.
· VAPoN has been the “Right Project at the Right Time”, according to external observers
· VAPoN delivers “Unique and high value analysis & shared knowledge”, according to the contributing PrintCity members
Since Spring 2008 PrintCity Alliance VAPoN project team members have issued over 5,000 copies of the Resource Book, either in personal customer meetings, major events such as this years WAN conference, drupa fair and IfraExpo, or resulting from individual customer requests.
Customer comments about valuable PrintCity Alliance research publications include:
“PrintCity reports are a good source for new information. We have been using them in our work on development questions.” Hannu Saarnilehto, VP of Technology, Sanomapaino, Helsinki
Summarising the type of customer response our members frequently get, Blake Greenwood of Sun Chemical Canada observes, “Customers Sun Media (Quebecor Inc.) and Transcontinental both loved the booklet and wanted more copies of the VAPoN Resource Book!”
The PrintCity VAPoN Resource Book is the result of a two-year unique multi-company study analysing and assessing all economic, quality, production and operational factors involved in the many aspects of value added newspaper production.
This VAPoN Resource Book is believed to be the only comprehensive analysis of all factors involved with value added newspaper printing & publishing. As such it is a must read for all CEOs, publishers, advertising & marketing directors, production directors, press room managers, technical directors and interested professionals. It is available from all project members and also now from the PrintCity Internet shop
Reader benefits include:
· All analysis and data for value added newspaper printing in one location
· Economic, technical and operational comparisons of alternative value added techniques
· Access to PrintCity VAPoN project team members and their shared knowledge
PrintCity VAPoN project team members are: Eltex, manroland, MEGTEC, Océ, Sun Chemical, Trelleborg, UPM.
New PrintCity Web Focus Area for the period to 2010
It is clear that there is an increasing level of convergence between newspapers and magazines –
this is true both for publication products and their production methods. However, magazines are also evolving along value added paths. PrintCity in 2009 is planning the expansion of its focus areas into value added printing of magazines, to better understand the marketing and technical issues.
This study will use the proven approach of VAPoN combined with experience from the 2008 PrintCity PRINTplusX project, which seeks to assess the secrets of value added printing. Further announcements will be made in 2009 with the expectation that such a project will publish a report in the 2010 time period.
Energy Efficiency Optimisation for Web Offset Printers
Energy efficiency optimisation is of increasing importance as global energy costs rise, so this well timed report will assist both new web press investment decisions, as well as improving the performance of existing installations.
The PrintCity Alliance has made this new printed 20-page Webline special report Energy Efficiency Optimisation for Web Offset Printers available via its Internet shop and interest from all markets is growing.
This new 2008 PrintCity energy efficiency report overviews issues of interest to all web offset printers worldwide and provides good advice & access to industry leading suppliers with in-depth capabilities. Invaluable as a resource for all printers, consultants, chief executives and business managers, we believe that this PrintCity report is unique in its approach to energy efficiency subjects.
PrintCity Energy Efficiency Optimisation for Web Offset Printers project team members are: UPM, Trelleborg, Sun Chemical, MEGTEC, manroland, Faist, Duschl, Baumüller, Axima.
Sustainability, Energy & Environment
A variety of partly contradictory definitions, regulations and buzzwords leads to some current confusion in our industry. This new 2008 PrintCity Alliance report overviews frequently asked questions in this complex subject area and provides answers as well as good advice & access to industry leading suppliers with the in-depth knowledge required for the future.
The PrintCity Sustainability, Energy & Environment special report is a complete introduction to this subject and an invaluable resource for all printers, packagers, consultants, chief executives and business managers.
The PrintCity Alliance has made this printed 24-page special report available via its Internet shop .
PrintCity Sustainability, Energy & Environment project team members are: UPM, Sun Chemical, Sappi, M-real, MEGTEC, manroland, Eltosch
New PrintCity Alliance project for 2009 – Ultra Wide Web Offset
The new PrintCity Ultra Wide Web Offset (UWWO) project is focused on analysing technical parameters, economics & best practice knowledge, to support customer interest in investigating Ultra Wide Web Offset production systems for heatset printing.
First shown as a discussion area at drupa 2008, the full PrintCity project is now beginning with the objective of studying the issues & opportunities involved in ultra-high web offset press productivity from web widths up to 2850mm (112.2 inches). As is the normal practice in PrintCity Alliance research projects, we analyse the whole process value chain and assess all pros and cons.
As a result anyone considering moving to ultra-high output heatset printing will have much of the guidance required – benefits, investment advice, consumables & operational information – in one location. Additionally, PrintCity Alliance team members who work on this project are there to jointly advise on specific customer needs across the entire production process.
These new ultra-wide commercial web presses will allow production of up to 96 pages long grain or short grain. The first manroland LITHOMAN 96-page short grain press will be installed at Mohn Media, Gütersloh, Germany.
The move to Ultra Wide Web Offset presses is driven by ultra-high productivity, beneficial investment economics, high automation possibilities plus lower energy consumption potential advantages. This project seeks to bring wider market understanding of the opportunities and the issues involved – presses, consumables, prepress and postpress.
The 96-page press format follows the successful, proven, 80-page 2250mm (88.6 inches) presses already installed. The whole process knowledge value chain, available from PrintCity Alliance members working together, has been important to make these steps forward.
Primary advantages of such ultra wide presses and their consumables are:
· Lower cost per copy than presses of a smaller format – consumables, labour and press costs
· Lower total investment than multiple presses of a smaller format – for an equal pagination output
· Lower total energy consumption for a given high pagination production output – versus smaller format presses of the same total output
Additionally there are advantages versus traditional publication gravure presses, where the time and costs of offset plate preparation are much lower than for preparing gravure cylinders.
The PrintCity UWWO project will address the entire production process from prepress to postpress.
This new PrintCity Alliance UWWO project will publish its results in future editions of PrintCitys Webline magazine
PrintCity Ultra Wide Web Offset project team members are: Lüscher, manroland, MEGTEC, Muller Martini, Sun Chemical, Trelleborg, UPM.
PrintCity Alliance Creativity, Knowledge Sharing and Networking
Through all its work as a market leading alliance now active for 10 years, PrintCity activities focus on and communicate the creativity of its members, as they share knowledge and network.
This benefits buyers and users by giving high level understanding of complex applications – consumables, operating techniques and equipment selection – the complete value chain.
Increasingly customers want suppliers that know how to work together and add value to the whole production & business process. PrintCity alliance members provide access to such knowledge and a unique pool of capability that everyone can benefit from.