J Thomson Colour is taking delivery of a eight-colour B1 Koenig & Bauer Rapida as a replacement for its nine-year-old ten-unit Koenig & Bauer press.
While the press coming in is eight years old it has clocked up only 53 million impressions compared to Thomson’s ten colour machine which has printed more than 300 million sheets. “The old press needs a lot of work and it costs a lot of money to repair a nine year old press,” says managing director Kevin Creechan.
The incoming machine is equipped with LED curing which will make the Glasgow printer an all LED house. The company has gained a full understanding and experience of LED UV printing with its six-colour B1 Rapida, installed at the same time as the long perfecting machine. “There is a bit of learning curve with LED,” he says. “You need to get used to the inks and curves and it is different to conventional print.”
The press will increase capacity at the company thanks to running faster and more reliably. There will be a materials saving because the new press can run with less provision for a grip edge when perfecting, resulting in a saving in paper. “We can run smaller paper sizes for the same result,” says Creechan.
The company will also be able to run in parallel with the six-colour press as both machines will be running the same LED UV technology.
The switch to the new machine should be straightforward with relatively minor training requirements.
The press has been sourced from a printer in the Low Countries where it was first installed to handle a contract that was then lost. This accounts for the low impression count and the good state of the press. “Even Koenig & Bauer people say it’s a good press,” says Creechan. That is going to be tested and proven over the next weeks and months.
