NELA plate lines installed at the world’s largest print site
News International has
officially inaugurated the
world’s largest print site at
Broxbourne, England, where twelve
triple-wide printing presses consume
thousands of square feet of Agfa
N91-V printing plates daily. The plate
production, consisting of Agfa CtP
exposure units and fully automatic
NELA plate lines, delivers an
outstanding performance to meet
expectations.
At this print site, which measures
23 football fields, the plate
production is hard to find in view
of the sheer size of the plant. The
plate lines are spread over 100
meters along the printing presses.
In each of the three pre-press rooms,
4 Agfa Polaris XCV-s CtP exposure
devices in combination with NELA
VCPEVOLUTION punch and bend
systems are connected via plate
conveyors to 3x2 double storey
stackers. A total of 164 stacker bins
permits to sort printing plates
according to press tower or cylinder.
The NELA PageTracking software
provides for trouble-free plate
management, one central server
collects all process and error
messages. While the NELA
PlateSorting software works in
conjunction with the Agfa
Arkitex Workflow, so that
feedback about the status and
location of the printing plates can
be tracked up to the sorting stacker
bin.
Together with the two other News
International sites in Scotland
(Eurocentral) and Middle England
(Knowsley), which dispose of similar
production lines, NELA has delivered
a total of 20 VCPEVOLUTION systems
in one of the largest single orders
in company history.
Meanwhile, two more North
American printers, Transcontinental
Transmag and Seattle Times, relied
upon NELA equipment to automate
and control their plate flow in the
prepress department. At
Transcontinental Transmag’s new
press project in Montreal, Canada,
the NELA system will vision
register, punchbend and inspect
plates exiting three CtP devices.
With the help of NELA NPS
Barcode & Page Tracking software,
the plates will be then transported
to the quiet room next to the press
consoles. Plates destined for the
upper press deck will be navigated
by a plate lift onto a multi-bin plate
stacking system positioned next to
the press units. While at the Seattle
Times, two NELA Evolution vision
punch benders will vision register
600 plates per hour that have been
imaged by two KRAUSE LS Jet CtP
devices.
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