Drupa will have fewer litho presses on the floor since the days when letterpress was the dominant print technology, perhaps even since its first outing when a highlight was the four-colour Roland offset press.
In part this reflects the consolidation among press manufacturers, there being just first companies building sheetfed offset presses in the world and only four of them participating in Drupa. In part this reflects the costs of participating in the show and the shrinking universe of printers interested in this technology.
The gap on the floor however is being filled by remote demonstrations of machines that are in showrooms elsewhere, at least for the German press manufacturers.
Heidelberg will only show three litho presses on its stand in Hall 1. Two will be B1 presses, one for carton work the other set up for commercial print, and a single B2 press. This will be the smallest litho press on the floor of the show.
The headline press will be the seven-colour XL106-7+L configured to run cartons at 21,000sph. This will bristle with technology for rapid makeready and colour consistency during the print run. It will be accompanied in the packaging area by a unit from the flexo Boardmaster, a Mastermatrix 106 die cutting platen, its Duopress Power combined foiling and cutter/creasing platen and ending with a Diana folder gluer line. The area will include the Gallus One inkjet label press.
The commercial print area will have a long perfecting eight-unit XL106-8-P demonstrating Push to Stop. This is fed from a Suprasetter 106 platesetter to show automation in printing and into finishing, under what Heidelberg has termed ‘cluster production’ where a single operator controls the press and postpress operations. Printed sheets will be folded in a TH82 with a StackStar C CoBo robot for loading pallets with folded sections. Unlike its first robotic pallet loader, this works alongside human operators.
The commercial area features four Polar guillotines and the DC12 die cutter. A Versafire LV is the digital press in this area. An XL75-4+L Anicolor is the sole B2 press at Drupa this year.
It is, however, not the last Heidelberg press at Drupa. Close partner IST will be running a Speedmaster CX104-6+L in collaboration with Heidelberg. The press will be configured to print both cartons with conventional UV and with LED UV for commercial print work. It will run demonstrations three times as day.
The four Heidelberg presses in operation represent the biggest show of metal on the floor. It will also have remote demonstrations of other presses in the portfolio which are located in the demonstration centre in Wiesloch. In person demonstrations will take place in the second week for visitors willing to travel to the showroom.
Koenig & Bauer is planning on something similar in what it calls hybrid demonstrations. These will feature the large format Rapida 145 with matched platen and folder gluer, the B2 Rapida 76 set up for carton printing and a Rapida 106X with reel sheeter cold foil attachment and CutPro 106X rotary die cutter for wet labels.
The live in person demonstrations feature the Rapida 106X aligned with a CutPro 106X rotary die cutter, CutProQ flatbed platen and Omega Alius folder-gluer. These can also serve the Varijet 106, the joint venture with Durst B1 inkjet press. The aim is to show seamless consistency from one technology to the other. Do not be surprised if the same job is run on both presses.
Komori is making a play for the same carton printing space with the seven-colour plus double-coater GLX40 Advance EX, its updated version that is introduced at the show. Reduced power usage is a key change, though the use of DC motors on the blowers used to control the airflow to manage the sheet. Smart Inking Flow removes some of the rollers in the ink train, delivering a faster start up, less waste and more responsive inking system. In all Komori reckons to cut consumption by up to 18%. The rate of greenhouse gas emissions is displayed on the single-screen KID control surface. There is no need for an operator to cycle through a number of screens to reach the information needed.
This includes the closed loop quality control system which checks the print result against the pass PDF sent to the platesetter. In other systems the QC monitors for deviation from the sheet signed off at the press, which might include artefacts introduced on the plate surface.
A major focus will be the use of extended gamut printing as a way of coping with short runs that require frequent wash ups for spot colours. These can be achieved through Smart Colour algorithms says Komori. A new control bar measures the gap between stripes of horizontal and vertical colours. By ensuring that the gap remains consistent, Komori reckons to keep the ink film at the right level and so colour consistent. The press can correct when the distance between the stripes changes before colour changes become noticeable.
Ink is stripped from the rollers over the last 50 sheets of the job with pre inking loading the colour for the next job to avoid any risks of ghosting.
The commercial print market is addressed by a G37P Advance, with the same energy saving technologies. The SRA1 format achieves eight A4 pages to view, printed on both sides, and with LED curing, dry in the delivery for immediate processing. At Drupa, a robot will move the stack to an MBO folder on the adjacent Finishing Alliance stand.
The demonstration will run through three consecutive jobs, with 1’25” for a full plate change and blanket wash. One of the job changes and start ups will be completely hands free thanks to Komori’s Autopilot system which uses on board cameras to measure register and colour and make adjustments once colour is set in 50 sheets. This will take a further 25-30 sheets before the production run begins. At the show this will be 500 sheets, enough time to take away the spent plates and position the next set.
The stand will be completed by the introduction of Komori’s second generation B2 inkjet press, the J-Throne 29. This will run at 6,000 single-sided B2 sheets an hour with a newly developed UV ink.
The second Japanese press manufacturer RMGT will also show two litho presses, a B1 carton machine and an SRA1 long perfector, in Hall 16. The 1060LX carton press has a six-colour configuration with double coaters and will run at 17,100sph including on the heaviest materials (up to 1.0mm). It is an LED cured press, using GEW’s LeoLED inter deck units and end of press with simultaneous plate changing. As with others, carton printing is increasingly important with 52% of its B1 press sales destined for carton printing last year.
Ryobi (which came together with Mitsubishi ten years ago to create RMGT) was the pioneer of UV curing having shown the technology back at Drupa in 2008. It has taken since for the technology to become dominant in commercial print and to be powerful enough for carton printing. The key advantage over conventional UV is the LED uses substantially less power.
This is a key theme for RMGT which has assessed the power consumption of its own and rival presses, including digital technologies, to stand up statements about low cost of use, which combined with the reliability of the Japanese technology, amounts to a low total cost of ownership and one of the key reasons for the success of RMGT in recent years. While other litho press manufacturers have been retrenching, RMGT has been expanding, adding a third factory to keep up with demand last year.
A lot of that success is built on the decision to major on the SRA1 format, arguing that most sheets printed on B1 presses are in the eight A4 page format. The SRA1 presses has a reduced footprint, lower consumable costs (blankets and plates) and uses less energy than the bigger press. It is the same argument that Komori uses for the GA37 on its stand. It is and argument that may spell the end of the B2 format for litho presses because with no difference in makeready, no difference in running speeds and only marginal increases in consumable and energy costs, the SRA1 format is more cost effective and opens up a greater scope of product types.
For Drupa RMGT will show its 970 model, a more robust press than the 920 and capable of printing cartons (with a skeleton transfer cylinder) as well as commercial. The Drupa press with be an eight unit perfecting machine configured for fast turn around commercial print with LED UV drying. It prints on a 965x650mm sheet, with simultaneous plate changing and with robots to move paper. In demonstration the press will change plates and run to colour automatically.
If there not as many litho presses at Drupa in 2024 as when manufacturers like Manroland, Sakurai, Miller, Harris, Solna and even Crabtree could be expected to exhibit, those that are on the floor will underline that there is still ink pumping around the body, that litho printing is very much alive.
