Offset Printing
2015: The year of the COLORMAN e:line will soon be here
Friday 17. October 2014 - Technical variability successfully sets new standards for newspaper printing
The COLORMAN e:line will take up production in 2015 on at least two continents, Europe and Africa. This reflects the popularity of this newspaper printing press with its extensive range of equipment and width variations. Available in various performance classes, at 100,000 copies/hour it is the fastest newspaper press of its class.
“Currently construction is underway in Bamberg and Nairobi for printing centers for the up-and-coming COLORMAN e:line presses,” says Dieter Betzmeier, Executive Vice President Technology and Project Execution at manroland web systems. “At its introduction three years ago, some of our competitors looked down on the new series as being short-lived. In the meantime, the COLORMAN e:line has won important bids in newspaper printing and created milestones. Today’s newspaper printing companies require this technological flexibility and the step-by-step modular retrofitting capacity.” One customer needs a very fast production of local newspaper editions, another is uncertain about the degree of automation and wants to wait. The third requires heatset equipment to enter the market of supplements. manroland web systems can fulfill all these customer demands with the many equipment variations and widths of the COLORMAN.
Variable equipment is in demand
The COLORMAN e:line is the premium printing system for long production runs, offering best print quality and best-in-class, but flexible automation. The COLORMAN e:line is available as an 8-, 16- or 24-page system. The maximum web width is between 1,700 mm and 1,900 mm, with a performance of between 70,000 and 100,000 copies per hour. Further quality features can also be added to the new operating concept, such as the 11-roller inking unit and format-size ink former roller. Both far exceed the market standard and ensure outstanding print quality. The folder variants PFN-23 or PFN-25 complete the picture with their excellent finishing quality.
The Automation Package offers a customized degree of automation that can be retrofitted for greater run length flexibility, better planning efficiency, and less waste. Fully equipped systems feature automated paper logistics, plate transport and plate change, automatic change-over with press presettings, Inline Control systems, and AutoJobChange.
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futureproof for step-by-step expansion
What is the basic principle of the new COLORMAN e:line? With its flexibility (manroland web systems calls it futureproof), the COLORMAN e:line is able to respond to changing market requirements at any time. The core feature is its easy operation with the ultra-modern operating system. Other key elements include the “automation” and “commercial” packages which ensure that printing houses keep their newspaper printing systems up to date and thus competitive.
The COLORMAN e:line is picking up speed
After its initial deployment at Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag in 2013, the COLORMAN e:line was also adopted by Weiss-Druck in the German Eifel region in 2013. The COLORMAN e:line enhances the quality of the products and offers better and easier operation for the employees. While a colorful illuminated COLORMAN e:line waited for her signal to start up, Georg Weiss put the message in a nutshell: “At Weiss, we are high-flyers”. The group of companies with 1,200 employees always aims to offer the complete portfolio of printing technology to its customers, “to achieve the best possible outcome for them.” The installation of the new COLORMAN e:line with autoprint configuration in Bamberg, Germany, is planned for April 2015. The newspaper press for Mediengruppe Oberfranken incorporates the latest technologies and automation solutions – from APL (Automatic Plate Loading) and the new InlineDensity Control system to the new ControlCenter operating system with MobilPad operation. From April 2015, the 32-page press will replace two previous presses from Koenig & Bauer. The leading Kenyan newspaper printer Nation Media in Nairobi was also convinced by the qualities of the COLORMAN e:line. The company has decided to invest in a new COLORMAN e:line in 4-1 configuration from manroland web systems. The press is scheduled for installation in the second quarter of 2015 and will be the first manroland web systems press in Kenya. This sets a clear course for the future of the country’s newspaper industry.