Geoff Neal Group will be one of the first printers in the world with the Drupa specification XL106 having been given a special preview of the machine on a visit to Heidelberg’s factory.
“We wanted to order a new press and wanted to make sure we were getting the right one,” says managing director Sam Neal. The Feltham company already runs one XL106 and will replace an XL105-5+LX when the new press arrives in December.
Heidelberg has disclosed that there is a now touch sensitive control screen as part of the Prinect Press Center XL2 redesigned control interface. A 65in screen displays press settings and is accessed through a touch screen, accelerating job set up and shaving seconds and minutes from makeready times.
There will be other innovations that Heidelberg is guarding until Drupa opens, and Neal is not about to shed light on what these are. Suffice to say it is about making the press more efficient at switching from one job to another. “There is no doubt that efficiency in makeready is critical to everybody’s business,” says Neal.
The press will be the company’s first with Autoplate Pro, delivering a two-minutes-per-makeready benefit, blanket wash time is cut by 27 seconds and the more responsive Inpress Control 2will save further time.
“What is also crucial is the reliability of the XL106. We are told that our machines are incredibly well maintained. We are rigorous about maintenance and as a result the up time we get is phenomenal.”
This has been one element that has changed for the business since deciding to buy new in 2010 after seeing the XL105 at Ipex. “In the days of Speedmaster CD and SM technology we kept our presses for eight to ten years but they produced about 20 million impressions a year. The Speedmaster XL models are outputting over 50 million impressions a year so the planned replacement period is much shorter,” he adds.
The new machine, a five-colour plus coater, is predicted to increase productivity by some 15%. This will be a measurable increase because one aspect of the new press is the information that will be logged by the press and can be examined in its Tharstern MIS.
The company will be able to cope with additional sheets on the floor having invested in new folding capacity last year. This was an MBO T800 buckle folder with Palamides Delta delivery system supplied by Friedheim International. Despite this the company will be sending two four-man teams to Drupa.
“We want to look at the progress that Landa has made,” says Neal. “We also want to look at workflow and automation.”
Geoff Neal will be part of the mission despite stepping back from day to day involvement in the business. He remains chairman and will provide technical consultancy to the business that will continue to carry his name.
Gareth Ward
Heidelberg will launch a new version of the Speedmaster XL106 at Drupa with a list of features and specifications that have yet to be announced. However, these have been disclosed to Geoff Neal Group during a visit to the factory, resulting in the UK’s first order for the new generation machine.
