manroland at IFRA India Expo 09, Chennai and IFRA Expo 09, Vienna
One year with One Touch:
initial conclusions
The proven manroland technology is based on customer needs and requirements arising from changing business models. It focuses on the principle of cost efficiency and provides the best quality while maintaining high flexibility. Moreover, publishing products must be made more attractive for readers and advertising customers, which is accomplished through creativity and groundbreaking technology.
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anroland, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of printing systems and market leaders in web offset presses, promoted their wide range of printing solutions for the newspaper industry in Chennai (India) and Vienna (Austria). The company has a product portfolio encompassing prepress, pressroom and workflow solutions which have been widely accepted by the Indian market. At IFRA Expo India 09 in Chennai, the company highlighted their revolutionary press Regioman, the world’s largest selling 4-1 press, with eight pages in single circumference and double-size blanket cylinders in blanket-to-blanket design. While IFRA Expo 09 in Vienna saw further discussions and progress on manroland’s ‘One touch vision’ - printing at the push of a button, at a single control console. The company bases their developments on market requirements and presented the press concept of tomorrow – with ‘One Touch’, newspaper production to be fully automatic in the future. The innovations include future control concepts, as well as the fastest possible make-ready processes and a printing process that is fully automated to a large degree.
One year ago, ‘One Touch’ was a topic that made headlines at the IFRA Expo; meanwhile, its practical implementation has been gradually achieved: the One Touch vision, newspaper printing at the press of a button. Until the start of this year’s IFRA Expo, manroland engineers had further developed the automation solutions, and the autoprint newspaper printing systems were put into operation by manroland’s service department, bringing much new and valuable practical knowledge. The Osnabrücker Zeitung and Freie Presse in Chemnitz rely on APL, manroland’s Automatic Plate Loading system. The Mittelbayerische Druckzentrum in Regensburg, the daily Mannheimer Morgen, and The Times of India are scheduled to follow.
Demands for cost-effective newspaper production and later editorial deadlines are a reality, especially for smaller editions involving many job changes. The later pose a benefit to advertising customers, and thus a good acquisition argument for publishing houses. These experiences have been gathered from the first autoprint series systems installed in Chemnitz and Osnabrück, where dailies with a strong regional emphasis are printed. APL has proven itself in the daily operations of these locations. Because of significantly reduced makeready times, customers can now start printing later in the night. The editorial departments value this opportunity for even greater topicality. The print shops also find it more convenient to handle the numerous job changes typically involved in many regional editions, thus enabling them to create a more specific profile for their readers.
Together with these production advantages, the print quality presents an additional persuasive benefit: an inline ink density control module such as InlineDensityControl offers consistently high quality throughout production, resulting in less waste, reduced staffing needs and fewer complaints. As supplier and service partner, manroland is satisfied with its start: press availabilities have surpassed customer expectations, as well as manroland’s.
How does autoprint work?
One Touch: the vision of automated newspaper production with the autoprint series signifies production efficiency through the consistent reduction of costs per copy, while taking the entire print shop process chain into account. This ensures a competitive edge on the media market. On the one hand, the automation approach of the autoprint series is based on the APL plate changing system with robot arm, and the modular, automatic plate transport (APL logistics) from the CtP system to the printing tower. The newspaper press is controlled by inline systems for ink density control, colour and cut-off registers, web tension, and temperature. All functions are integrated in one single workflow and one control console.
APL has proven itself in the field, and now the first few customers have made the decision for APL logistics with which, manroland has become the first printing press manufacturer to have realised and installed workflow-integrated, automated plate logistics. In its most advanced extension phase, APL logistics enables a fully automatic plate change process, handling the transport and transfer of printing plates from the CtP system to the plate robots. The entire makeready process is integrated into the printnet workflow concept.
The business model of the future?
Even the most cutting-edge technology, whether it is autoprint printing systems or heatset-coldset combinations, does not yet comprise a business model. The autoprint series technology does, however, represent a major component and the foundation and starting point for complex business models that are as individual as the publishing and printing companies using them. Where has a publishing company established its focus on: topicality, press utilisation through contract printing, and what percentage does the newspaper occupy in the entire media-based publishing portfolio; manroland’s role is to advise customers on their requirements, to accompany processes, and to provide customised technological solutions for cost reductions and increased efficiency. The PRINTVALUE range stands for added value: maintenance, training, and spare part supply by ‘printservices’; coordinated, process-compliant system components by ‘printcom’; networking by ‘printnet’; and consulting by ‘printadvice’.
