Newspaper & Mailroom
Baldwin Service And Technology Enables Espace Media To Move Easily From Newspapers To Semi-Commercial
Thursday 25. September 2008 - Baldwin web and blanket cleaning technologies have played a vital role in enabling Swiss printer Espace Media to handle semi-commercial work on its 6/2 KBA Commander.
The press has been equipped with Impact Global automatic blanket cleaning and impression cylinder cleaning technology on each of the 18 nine-cylinder satellite printing units, plus a Jetstream web cleaning system. However, it has been Baldwins ability to optimise Impact so effectively that has put its after-sales service on a different level to its competitors.
“One of the most important things for us is that the same high standards of cleaning are reached on every tower,” says Espace Media printing production manager, Beni Kiser. “Impact achieves this because it always operates with a fresh section of Prepac cloth. Furthermore, the system is not demanding in terms of calibration or maintenance and rolls can be replaced quickly, even on a press the width of the KBA Commander.”
Espace Media asked Baldwin to optimise the Impact system in order to overcome a situation that occurred occasionally following cleaning, when a hard residue of dirt particles remained on the blankets near to the plates that fix them to the cylinder ie the minigaps. The task set by the Bern printer was to reset Impact to clean the blankets without leaving behind any residue whatsoever and without extending the cleaning time or increasing the cleaning waste.
“The Baldwin service technician thoroughly analysed the problem and methodically optimised the cleaning process. I have rarely seen such a professional technician at work,” says Mr Kiser. “He focused on the job in hand and achieved exactly what we wanted – absolutely spotless blankets, which are also sufficiently dry so we can immediately start production again.”
The technician, from Baldwins Centre of Competence for Newspapers in Arlöv, Sweden, was able to carry out all the work on the printing towers and control panels without affecting on-going production. The result was not just cleaner blankets, but significantly longer intervals between cleaning and a corresponding reduction in cloth usage. Espace Media says that instead of conducting blanket cleaning after every 80,000 copies it is now doing so only after printing 120,000 copies.
“That means the frequency with which the blankets need to be cleaned has been reduced by 50 per cent, with equivalent savings made in cleaning cloth consumption,” says Beni Kiser. “The final result is exactly what we want.”
The 1,920 mm wide KBA Commander consists of three identical press lines, each capable of printing 72-pages of Swiss standard newspaper format, or 144 tabloid pages in full-colour. Titles printed on the press include the Berner Zeitung and Der Bund, both available from Monday to Saturday with circulations of 170,000 and 60,000 respectively. In addition, Espace Media handles a part contract for the free newspapers Zwanzig Minuten and News, printing 134,000 and 50,000 copies of each, as well as numerous advertising journals such as the twice weekly Berner Bär.
The KBA Commander is also used by Espace Media to target a variety of work, from direct mail, newsletters and magazines to catalogues and inserts. Production is dominated during the day by magazines such as Automobil Revue and the weekly publications of Switzerlands largest food retailers Migros and Coop. A split run of 550,000 copies of Migros-Magazin is printed on Fridays, and approximately 350,000 copies of Coopzeitung are produced each Monday.
“They are our biggest individual orders and high quality standards are especially important for these print runs,” says Beni Kiser. “Our ultimate goal is to ensure maximum print quality. Our production process is subject to numerous influencing parameters and for this reason, controls and process optimisation always feature highly on our agenda.”
Espace Media has found that during an average week up to nine kilograms of dust can accumulate in the Jetstreams central filter station. Jetstream is a contactless system, which removes dust and debris from the paper surface prior to the web entering the first printing unit. Eliminating this not only significantly improves print quality but extends the period between blanket cleaning and increases plate durability.