Consumables
Swedish Printer Reports Major Savings Following Baldwin Installations
Wednesday 27. May 2009 - Swedish newspaper printer, Mittmedia Print AB, has been so impressed by the cost savings it is making following the installation of Baldwin spray dampening and filtration systems that the Örnsköldsvik printing plant expects the return on investment to be less than three years.
During December, Baldwin installed 88 LithoSpray World spray bars on an 11 unit, four-high tower Goss Community press, along with its LongLife-C (cross-flow) filtration technology plus mixer and control boards.
“The installation went extremely smoothly, with the Baldwin engineers equipping one four-high tower per day,” says production manager Michael Sjögren. “They also provided comprehensive training for our operators, so that by the time the press had been completely updated everyone felt comfortable with the new equipment. We expected that investing in Baldwin technology would lead to some significant improvements, but weve actually been very surprised at the level of cost savings we have achieved.
“With faster make-readies on the press and fewer spoilt copies we have reduced paper wastage by around 3 per cent, and with some 110,000 newspapers per night and up to 160,000 magazines printed per weekday, this is a major saving. The volume of fount solution has also dropped, bringing the previous consumption of 1,000 litres per month down to approximately 600 litres. We havent analysed savings in areas such as ink usage, but Im sure there are some reductions here as well. Taken together, we estimate that the increase in efficiency is such that the return on investment for the Baldwin equipment will be around two to three years, which is a tremendous performance.
“However, there are other very important advantages following the Baldwin installation and one of these is certainly the improvement to print quality. Our previous spray dampening system was causing us some serious quality issues and the improvement has been so great that we have gone from a situation where customers who were unhappy with print standards now comment on how pleased they are with the printed material they are receiving!”
The LithoSpray World spray bars at Mittmedia Print AB are equipped with Baldwins maintenance-friendly Constant C air curtain technology, which eliminates the risk of plugged or blocked nozzles. The spray bars are easy to install and maintain, while ensuring precise water volumes and uniform dampening at all times. The proprietary control algorithms enable fast pre-setting of ink and water.
Baldwins LongLife-C filtration technology can be retrofitted easily to existing press lines and provides significant benefits when integrated with a spray dampening system. The LongLife-C system filtrates waste water coming from the spray bars, allowing the mixed fount solution to be reused. By reusing the waste water, significant savings in water and fount concentrate are made as well as in the costs associated with waste water removal.
“In addition to cost savings and production benefits, one of the reasons we wanted to invest in the LongLife-C technology was to put the company ahead of current environmental legislation,” says Michael Sjögren. “We are very conscious of our responsibilities to the local environment and Baldwins filtration system enables us to go even further in this respect than we are required to by legislation. Mittmedia Print AB is a company that takes responsibility for the environment through environmentally-friendly products. The company is licensed by The Nordic Ecolabel with the Swan label.”
Mittmedia Print AB prints five newspaper titles overnight at the Örnsköldsvik plant, including the local newspapers ÖA and TÅ, and also the north Sweden editions of Aftonbladet, Metro and Dagens Industri, plus a range of magazines during the day, such as Villatidningen and Hälsokraft. The company is owned by Mittmedia Förvaltnings AB, and has five sister newspaper printing sites in Sweden (Gävle, Falun, Hudiksvall, Sundsvall and Östersund).
“This is the first Baldwin equipment in use within the group and we looked at other dampening systems on the market during our research. The Baldwin equipment came out significantly ahead in terms of performance, and dealing with a major international player gives the additional security of knowing that we can call upon comprehensive technical support if we need it. From the initial contact with Baldwin to the installation, performance and reliability of its systems, I can only find positive things to say, so we are very certain that we made the right choice!”