Man Roland has given its first demonstration of its new Directdrive technology which reduces makeready times for plate changing, blanket and impression cylinder wash-ups by as much as 60 per cent. The new technology was demonstrated at print and publishing group Universitatsdruckerei H Schmidt based in Mainz, Germany, one of MAN Roland’s field test partners for the project.
All six printing units of a new six-colour Roland 700 press were equipped with directly driven plate cylinders which help reduce make-ready times along wash-ups of the blanket and impression cylinders and inking-up.
Whilst printing a six-colour poster with photographs of the guests, the Universitatsdruckerei H Schmidt demonstrated a full plate change, blanket and impression cylinder wash-up and printing the first proof sheet in four minutes 30 seconds, followed by another plate change without wash-ups in less than three minutes.
Gary Doman, director of sales for sheetfed and finishing products at MAN Roland UK says that while the reduction in make-ready times is currently being achieved with systems such as automated plate changing and CIP3 files for ink duct settings, introduced a decade or more ago, Directdrive is the first significant breakthrough on reducing make-ready times by another method, to have been introduced for a decade.
The Directdrive project was initiated through MAN Roland’s experience in web printing machinery, where the simultaneous set-up of different areas of the press is a common practice, he says.
The concept created or MAN Roland’s sheedfed presses, enables the plate cylinder to be mechanically disengaged and directly driven by a high-torque motor mounted on the cylinder journal.
Linked in a control and regulation loop with the blanket cylinder, the plate cylinder holds its position exactly, with an error tolerance of less then 1/100th of a millimetre.
As well as opening up the possibility of simultaneous plate changes on multiple print units, Directdrive also introduces the concept of the ’flying plate change’ to the sheetfed market.
The term - common in the web world - refers to a single plate change, a black text plate for example, whilst the machine is still running, says MAN Roland.
Such a capability might allow several different language versions of a brochure to be printed without actually stopping the print run at all.
Dr Markus Rall, a member of the MAN Roland executive board and responsible for the sheetfed press business unit, says the idea behind Directdrive is to provide a significant increase in production time through a dramatic decrease in make-ready time.
