Prepress

Excellent first quarter of 2014 for NELA – several automation projects signed

Wednesday 26. March 2014 - The trend towards automation and (almost) unmanned plate production in the Graphic Arts Industry seems to continue also in 2014, as several projects signed by NELA in the first quarter of 2014 prove. In addition to its classic register punching, bending and plate automation equipment, NELA offers intelligent systems to facilitate just-in-time delivery of press-ready offset plates to the press, including interface to the production planning software.

Swiss Mittelland Zeitungsdruck AG, for example, has ordered a comprehensive NELA plate automation system. This installation doesn’t only include the two VCPevolution HS800 register punching & bending systems – which are capable of processing plates for two different press types – but also a plate lift for automatic transportation of press-ready plates directly to the press room. Here the plates are sorted into NELA plate sorters that are located directly at the two press levels, providing quick and easy access for the press operators. Large screens above the sorters show where the plates for the next print jobs are located in the sorter. When plates are taken out of the bins, sensors will indicate this to the NELA software and the bins are then automatically allocated to the next job in line.
Badisches Druckhaus in Germany – who are also installing a new KBA Commander CT press – have also signed for a NELA plate automation system. Coming from two VCPevolution HS800 punch/benders – each with a capacity of 360 singlewide plates per hour – printing plates are conveyed through the wall directly to the press room and sorted into a two-storey 52-bin plate sorter. This sorter consists of two groups of bins which are capable to hold the plates for one complete print job each. Whether all plates for one job have arrived and in which bin they are stacked is shown on a large screen above the sorter. This control of completeness requires an interface between the NELA-system and the Ctp-workflow, and this interface will be configurated and delivered by NELA.
Two NELA VCPevolution HS800 register punching & bending systems were sold to Polaris Trykk Trondheim in Norway, here an existing Barenschee plate sorter will also be integrated. Such configurations have become feasible since the acquisition of the Barenschee know-how through NELA last year.
Two additional NELA VCPevolution punch/bend systems will be installed at BVZ Berliner Zeitungsdruck GmbH at the end of March, 2014, complementing the existing plate production with older NELA equipment.
Druckhaus Ulm-Oberschwaben (Germany), who in 2013 had already installed extensive NELA systems at two of their print sites, is further increasing its pre-press capacities. Each of the two sites will receive a third NELA VCPevolution HS800 punching & bending system, which will be integrated with the existing lines.
At the end of 2013 already Weiss-Druck GmbH (Germany) tapped NELA for 2 new VCPevolution 900 flexx punch/bend systems. NELA’s longtime experience with all kinds of press types proved a huge benefit during this project as the customer has an existing manroland GEOMAN press, as well as a brand-new manroland COLORMAN e:line. In order to make plates for both presses in the same punch/bender, the new NELA VCPs are equipped with servo motors for automatic adjustment of plate lengths and bending radii, as well as with radii changers for leading and trailing edges.