News
First UK DirectDrive Press for St Ives plc
St Ives plc, the UK’s leading printing group, has announced details of an order for its music and multimedia operation, for the UK’s first manroland 700 DirectDrive press. The press will be a 12-unit perfecting version of the ROLAND 700 DirectDrive, with installation due to be completed within the first quarter of 2008 at its Crayford plant.
“We were very impressed by the reduction in make-ready times the DirectDrive system offered,” said Hayden Savage, Operations Director, St Ives Crayford. “At St Ives, we are always striving to offer a more efficient service and we feel that Man ROLAND’s DirectDrive system will help us do this, by increasing productivity whilst maintaining our standards of print quality.”
The DirectDrive sheetfed press caused considerable excitement in the industry when it was launched in 2007 in Germany, and when manroland claimed a world make-ready record at one of its first installations. The all-important innovation of the press is the direct drive of the plate cylinder. In combination with an intelligent coupling system, it enables simultaneous changing of all printing plates and simultaneous make-ready operations. During a job changeover, plate changes in all printing units, along with blanket and impression cylinder, and inking roller wash-ups are concurrent. All of this is achieved at the optimum speed for the respective function. Therefore, plate-change times are no longer a factor in the make-ready calculation, as the process involves only tasks running in the background.
“When purchasing any equipment at St Ives, we always consider how the product will benefit our customers. With the manroland 700 DirectDrive press, it was our belief that once installed, its DirectDrive technology would speed up the production process and provide a quicker time to market. Importantly, this would enable us to add further value to our customer service, and allow us to maintain our competitive edge,” added Savage.
The 12-colour B1-format perfecting press will provide for six-back-six printing, at speeds of up to 12,000 sheets per hour. An automated make-ready package is included with the DirectDrive version of the press, including APL (Automated Plate Loading) and the full suite of manroland QuickChange modules. The press will be run alcohol free as are the incumbent presses at Crayford.
As always with manroland technological advances, DirectDrive was thoroughly tested prior to its official release. As early as 1996, manroland had applied for first patents on direct drive in a sheetfed press following its extensive experience with similar systems for web offset printing. In 2004, the first ROLAND 700 was produced as an experimental press with direct drive capabilities. A presentation of the concept at DRUPA 2004 was followed by several field test installations and extensive testing of a ROLAND 700 DirectDrive in the company’s Offenbach factory. With the start of series production at the beginning of 2007, the technology is perfected and reliable.
“I believe that the introduction of DirectDrive will come to be viewed as a landmark in printing technology by future generations,” said Gary Doman, Sales Director for Sheetfed Products at manroland GB. “The topic of reducing make-ready times has been at the top of every print equipment suppliers’ agenda during recent years. The introduction of manroland’s DirectDrive technology would seem to put a full-stop at the end of that debate - there is nothing else on the market that can have such a dramatic impact in ensuring that the printer can move from job to job in the absolute minimum of time.”
To contact St Ives Print & Display call 0132 262 1560 or visit www.stivespd.co.uk ROLAND 700 DirectDrive - download brochure
First UK DirectDrive Press for St Ives plc
St Ives plc, the UK’s leading printing group, has announced details of an order for its music and multimedia operation, for the UK’s first manroland 700 DirectDrive press. The press will be a 12-unit perfecting version of the ROLAND 700 DirectDrive, with installation due to be completed within the first quarter of 2008 at its Crayford plant.
“We were very impressed by the reduction in make-ready times the DirectDrive system offered,” said Hayden Savage, Operations Director, St Ives Crayford. “At St Ives, we are always striving to offer a more efficient service and we feel that Man ROLAND’s DirectDrive system will help us do this, by increasing productivity whilst maintaining our standards of print quality.”The DirectDrive sheetfed press caused considerable excitement in the industry when it was launched in 2007 in Germany, and when manroland claimed a world make-ready record at one of its first installations. The all-important innovation of the press is the direct drive of the plate cylinder. In combination with an intelligent coupling system, it enables simultaneous changing of all printing plates and simultaneous make-ready operations. During a job changeover, plate changes in all printing units, along with blanket and impression cylinder, and inking roller wash-ups are concurrent. All of this is achieved at the optimum speed for the respective function. Therefore, plate-change times are no longer a factor in the make-ready calculation, as the process involves only tasks running in the background.
“When purchasing any equipment at St Ives, we always consider how the product will benefit our customers. With the manroland 700 DirectDrive press, it was our belief that once installed, its DirectDrive technology would speed up the production process and provide a quicker time to market. Importantly, this would enable us to add further value to our customer service, and allow us to maintain our competitive edge,” added Savage.
The 12-colour B1-format perfecting press will provide for six-back-six printing, at speeds of up to 12,000 sheets per hour. An automated make-ready package is included with the DirectDrive version of the press, including APL (Automated Plate Loading) and the full suite of manroland QuickChange modules. The press will be run alcohol free as are the incumbent presses at Crayford.
As always with manroland technological advances, DirectDrive was thoroughly tested prior to its official release. As early as 1996, manroland had applied for first patents on direct drive in a sheetfed press following its extensive experience with similar systems for web offset printing. In 2004, the first ROLAND 700 was produced as an experimental press with direct drive capabilities. A presentation of the concept at DRUPA 2004 was followed by several field test installations and extensive testing of a ROLAND 700 DirectDrive in the company’s Offenbach factory. With the start of series production at the beginning of 2007, the technology is perfected and reliable.
“I believe that the introduction of DirectDrive will come to be viewed as a landmark in printing technology by future generations,” said Gary Doman, Sales Director for Sheetfed Products at manroland GB. “The topic of reducing make-ready times has been at the top of every print equipment suppliers’ agenda during recent years. The introduction of manroland’s DirectDrive technology would seem to put a full-stop at the end of that debate - there is nothing else on the market that can have such a dramatic impact in ensuring that the printer can move from job to job in the absolute minimum of time.”
To contact St Ives Print & Display call 0132 262 1560 or visit www.stivespd.co.uk ROLAND 700 DirectDrive - download brochure
