Saxoprint XL106 eyes run of 50

Saxoprint has ordered a second XL106 with Heidelberg’s plate to unit, fully automatic plate handling system, having been one of those involved in testing the concept.

The “Saxospeed” press has robotic handling of plates from the platesetter to be poised above the press. As the spent plates are ejected in a synchronised plate change, the system lowers each new plate into the print unit while the robot removes the used plate. No operators have been involved.

This was put through its paces in front of invited guests at Saxoprint’s Dresden factory in August. The beta machine was delivered to the online print company towards the end of 2020, at the height of the lockdown. Since then the lights out print operation has been perfected and 200,000 sets of plates have been changed.

“The potential for automation is far from being fully exhausted in many areas,” Heidelberg CEO Ludwin Monz says. “By working closely with customers like Saxoprint we are able to bring automation solutions to market more quickly and in a more targeted manner, to maintain our technological leadership and to increase our customers’ competitiveness.”

“Saxoprint aims for price leadership in the online printing sector. We want to offer our customers the best price, combined with reliably high quality,” says managing director Klaus Sauer. “In the long term, that’s only achievable by fully automating our entire value chain, and that will make the vision of an autonomous pressroom a reality.”

The Plate to Unit is the next extension of the Press to Stop idea introduced at Drupa 2016. Heidelberg reckons the latest development “bridges a major gap on the way to autonomous production.” It brings consistency to the time needed to change plates, removes variables due to skill levels of the operators and enables Saxoprint to cope with very short runs.

Saxoprint reckons that runs of 50 sheets can be viable. The Suprasetter outputs plates in press sequence under the control of Prinect Plate Pilot, placing them on to a plate trolley which is moved to the Plate to Unit system using a QR code on each plate to identify it and ensure that the correct plate is directed to the correct print unit.

It is not the first development with Heidelberg aimed at cutting cost of production. The company has previously installed an eight-unit perfecting Speedmaster XL162, together with a CutStar reel sheeter. That press model is no longer supplied by Heidelberg.

Now the future for Saxoprint is based firmly on the plate to unit concept and future machines are likely to follow the concept.