BY C. CLINTE BOLTE
The Chicago Marathon and its 40,000 runners coincided with the first day of Graph Expo & Converting Expo 2004 and set the mood for the most exciting equipment and supplies trade show in North America in many years--frenetic, fast-paced and fun. Coming off the exhilarating drupa 2004 show in Germany, a wide range of suppliers and manufacturers showed their latest equipment. Graph Expo was held Oct. 10-13 at McCormick Place.
The show didn't include blockbuster technology announcements, but several mainline manufacturers presented noteworthy enhancements to their existing product lines. Most firms showed their JDF-enabled equipment running live in an integrated fashion, both in their own booths and in those of complimentary process vendors throughout McCormick Place. Computer-integrated manufacturing via JDF, from prepress through postpress, was the event's echoing theme. While press enhancements were plentiful, postpress vendors provided the most excitement, as the printing industry seems eager to recapitalize its aging finishing operations.
For the second consecutive year, the Graphic Arts Show Company Inc. organized isolated areas for key topics of interest to printers. These included the Wide Format Pavilion, Mailing and Fulfillment Pavilion, Bindery Industries of America (BIA) and JDF Pavilion. (Speaking of JDF, the Print '05 show next year--Sept. 9-15 at McCormick Place--likely will have a networked display of selected mailing systems to display typical print workflows. Full computer-integrated manufacturing via the CIP4 and JDF initiatives is the ultimate goal of the equipment vendors. Many pieces of equipment available today, however, aren't JDF-enabled.)
Graph Expo featured a U.S. Army Deployable Print Production Center (DPPC) along with its National Guard contingent that just returned from Iraq. This company is responsible for printing and distributing psychological leaflets. (See Off Hours on page 124.) Comprising a color scanner, PC, Corel Draw software, RISO digital duplicator and cutter, this mobile factory is contained in a trailer and towed by a Humvee. The DPPC cadre of two to five print warriors prepare thousands of 4-color leaflets that are banded together and inserted into a plastic "bomb" disseminator. This device is dropped from Air Force or Navy jets from an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet. At 10,000 feet the device is programmed to disintegrate, scattering check-sized leaflets over a multi-mile radius for a saturation of one leaflet per square meter.
Variable Data is No Fad
Many booths showcased variable data and imaging presses, with noticeable improvement in the quality of ink jet offerings. Buskro introduced its Sapphire ink jet printer with four heads covering a 10-inch image area up to 660 d.p.i. The company's BK 1700 controller provides the Sapphire's job management and system control. In the future, both units will be capable of running eight heads covering 20 inches of image area.
Another notable variable data printing system was Kodak's Versamark VX5000e, which produces up to 2,000 pages a minute with a duty cycle of 60 million impressions a month.
An interesting high-volume operation was the combination 2-unit Muller Martini Concepta™ variable-sized web press running in-line with the Nipson VaryPress™ 400 to produce variable data direct mail pieces. Nipson's magnetography process is suitable for MICR, making this display look like the forms press of the future.
Kodak's NexPress launched the availability of a fifth imaging unit for the NEXPRESS 2100 at drupa 2004. In the past, the NexPress has been offered as a 4-color printer. The fifth unit allows the printer to simulate 86 percent of the 1,114 colors in the Pantone Matching System. This capability results in this press' designation as a Pantone-licensed product. The fifth unit also allows users to add a flood or spot coating of clear ink. The clear ink comes off the NexPress as a matte finish, but can be run through an off-line device, called NexGlosser, to convert the finish to high gloss. This overcoat can be used as an authenticating watermark or to communicate copyrights on proofs of portrait images. The NexGlosser unit will be available in the first quarter of 2005.
Xerox demonstrated its Xerox 180 Highlight Color (HCL), claimed to be the world's fastest cut sheet, highlight-color-printing system operating at 180 pages per minute. Targeted at the newsletter and transactional print markets, the HCL family of printers is expected to be able to add color to a document for under a penny a print. List prices range from $320,000 to $472,000 for the 128-, 155- and 180-ppm units. A phased launch of this equipment is set for late 2004 and early 2005.
New Offset Presses
Mitsubishi showed its variable sleeve offset concept press, as they did at drupa. Drent Goebel also showed its variable sleeve web offset press that actually has been offered for two years. The press allows the printing length to be steplessly set from 15 to 30 inches for the 520 and 850 presses, while the 1120 and 1250 presses can vary from 22.5 to 44 inches. Drent's narrow web rotary offset press is a modular system, allowing the printer to configure a hybrid machine that incorporates flexo, gravure, screen, hot foil, laminating and in-line matrix die cutting for producing labels (wet glue or pressure sensitive), flexible packaging, cardboard and commercial printing.
MAN Roland unveiled a series of in-line enhancements demonstrated on its mainstay Roland 700 press. These enhancements included a double coater module, a digitally driven in-line sheeter, in-line full speed quality control, a digitally controlled inline sorter and a quick-change make-ready accelerator. In addition, the company's Prindor™ applies foil and metallic effects automatically during the printing pass at full press speed, eliminating the more expensive and time-consuming off-line hot foil stamping process. The Prindor System can be mounted on any two consecutive printing units of any recent vintage Roland 700. When foil isn't being applied, the entire press can be used for normal printing. The reflectiveness of in-line foil lamination is reported to be very close to that of foil stamping. Additionally, the gloss threshold provided by the Prindor is significantly higher than that achieved by applying metallic inks or coatings. Sales literature and packaging now can be more eye-catching, and security elements such as holograms now can be applied in-line.
Shaftless technology has revolutionized the web press during the past decade by isolating each printing unit through the use of separate direct drive motors. MAN Roland's DirectDrive™ combines the designs of both web and sheet-fed mechanical technology. The longitudinal shaft on a DirectDrive-equipped Roland 700 assures that all printing units and sheet transfer mechanisms are mechanically in synch with one another. Each plate cylinder is driven by its own motor and controlled by the PECOM™ operating system. The plate cylinders can be decoupled. This allows all plates to be changed simultaneously rather than sequentially; plus, wash-up tasks can be accomplished at the same time as plate changeover. Those jobs requiring language version changes of a single plate, for example, can be swapped out on the fly.
Heidelberg's new top management, Chairman of the Board Bernhard Schreier and President of Heidelberg USA Jim Dunn, were on hand to meet clients and prospects. Dunn said Heidelberg's first long perfector (eight units and up) was introduced in 1993. One thousand such presses have been installed worldwide, 20 percent of those in the United States. A 10-unit SP102 in-line with a CutStar™ roll sheeter ran at Graph Expo. Dunn also said Heidelberg USA moved its parts warehousing service to Indianapolis to gain two more hours on the distribution time cycle for North American clients.
Binding Abounds
Heidelberg introduced its Eurobind series of perfect binders at Graph Expo, replacing its Quickbinders and Bindexpert. The company also demonstrated its entry-level Stitchmaster ST 90 (rated at 9,000 books an hour) and high-volume ST 350.
Holding a 70 percent worldwide market share in saddle stitchers and perfect binders, Muller Martini's equipment was shown in four different booths to highlight the collaboration of multiple vendors in achieving in-line production. Its new Frontero face-cut trimmer, rated at 6,000 cycles an hour, facilitates the production of gatefold flaps on perfect-bound book covers in a single pass. That streamlines a process that previously required two procedures. The first involved production of the book block with face trim. In a second pass, the cover was applied and the head and foot was trimmed. Frontero takes a gatefold-covered book, aligns it, pulls back the cover out of the way, then trims the face of the book.
In its North American premiere, Muller's AmigoDigital perfect binder was combined with the new SigmaTower, SigmaTrimmer and Océ VarioStream 7650cx Twin continuous-feed print engine to create an integrated book-on-demand system. The system produced as many as 1,000 fully variable-sized soft cover volumes per hour throughout the show. The new SigmaTower served as an in-line buffer between AmigoDigital and SigmaTrimmer. It provides a dynamic cool-down zone for bound volumes, allowing glue to set so structural integrity is ensured before the volumes arrive at the trimmer.
With all the hype and the whiz-bang technology, equipment shows provide a terrific glimpse of what's around the corner for our industry. This year, three things stood out: 1) The mainline suppliers continually raise the bar on their equipment's performance and productivity. You can read about the new features, but there's nothing like seeing them firsthand. 2) New suppliers and smaller vendors on the side aisles invariably have the most creative innovations that are easy to overlook. More importantly, they may not be aware of additional print-related problems that their software, hardware or gizmo could solve if slightly modified. If you had a potential application, they were sure to listen. 3) It's essential that owners and industry leaders understand that ours is a global business impacted by firms worldwide.
C. Clint Bolte is an industry expert and owner of C. Clint
Bolte & Associates, Chambersburg, Pa. Send email to cbolte3@comcast.net.
