Offset Printing

French publishing print shop Pollina uses large-format press from Heidelberg for “book-on-demand” printing

Wednesday 19. December 2012 - Speedmaster XL 162-8-P is first press of its kind in France and boasts minimal makeready times

Double gripper technology ensures larger print area and cuts substrate costs
Paper stretch compensation delivers total register accuracy
Leading French publishing print shop Pollina in Luçon near Nantes has opted for the first time for a Speedmaster XL 162 eight-color perfecting press from Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg). This press – the first of its kind in France – includes technical innovations such as double gripper technology in the delivery and control station-controlled paper stretch compensation. This enlarges the printable area, cuts substrate costs, and ensures total register accuracy. “We were also impressed by the extremely short makeready times of the Speedmaster XL 162 and are looking to use this press to produce short to very short book runs, i.e. to offer book-on-demand,” says Laurent Pollina, explaining the company’s investment of several million euros. He manages the print shop, which was founded by his father Paul in 1968, together with his brothers Stéphane and Paul-Alain.
Today, 240 employees manufacture high-quality books with complex finishing, magazines, and catalogs on a 45,000 m2 production area. Pollina enjoys an excellent reputation on the European market, producing 68 million books each year and up to 30 different titles a day. So far it has eight large-format presses from a competitor. The first sheetfed offset press from Heidelberg is due to start production of book-on-demand jobs from spring 2013. Here, xtremely short production times are in demand, as unit costs ultimately need to be minimized. The Speedmaster XL 162-8-P enables extremely cost-effective production of runs of just a few hundred sheets, based on unit costs. It scores with very short makeready times, fast production, minimal paper waste, and excellent print quality.
State-of-the-art press with many technical innovations
The Speedmaster XL 162-8-P was unveiled at drupa 2012 and since then has already been sold to five print shops in Europe. One of its key technical USPs is the double gripper delivery, which grips the print sheet simultaneously at the front and rear edges to provide contact-free transfer from the final printing unit to the delivery pile. As a result of this technology, sheet brakes and print-free corridors are no longer needed in perfecting mode, thus enlarging the available print area and cutting substrate costs significantly. A further unique selling point is the control station-controlled paper stretch compensation during the production run, which delivers total register accuracy from leading edge to back edge.
Since the start of series production, Heidelberg has sold over 75 presses in the large-format Speedmaster XL 145/XL 162 range.