Rösler’s Pursuit of Record Successful
Rösler Druck sets world record in plate change, using ROLAND 700 DirectDrive.
Short runs and short makeready times are the trend – the time is right for the new benchmark in plate change.
The larger metropolitan area of Stuttgart, Germany has been known as one of the world’s leading technology regions. The companies in this part of the country are accordingly ambitious to innovate, and this is very much the case with Rösler Druck GmbH. In the middle of last January, the printer in the Swabian town of Schorndorf was ready to prove it in a special way, using its new press, a six-color ROLAND 700 DirectDrive with double coating system. The challenge in a notarially certified attempt at a world record was to “achieve as many plate changes as possible within 24 hours”. Indispensable for success: minimization of makeready times.
The world record
The Rösler management, notary Helmut Hahn and highly motivated press operators were present when the signal sounded to start the attempt at a record with the ROLAND 700 DirectDrive. How many printing plates can the press process within a day, producing a customer job of 1,000 sheets printed on both sides? A four-color catalogue of 2,800 pages was printed, after every 1,000 good sheets the plates were changed. Three times within 24 hours, the notary ascertained on-site that the print production was proceeding rightfully, checking sheet counter totals of the press, counting sheets printed and plates consumed. The result: 103 forme changes (412 plates) within 24 hours. That’s world record. The investments in technology for makeready time reduction have paid; with it, Rösler Druck is a pioneer of the printing trade. The record shows how efficiently MAN Roland customers can produce with the new DirectDrive technology. Such productivity in short-run printing would have been inconceivable only a few years ago.
Open for innovations
With its 30 staff, Rösler constantly aims at top performance, and is one of the first pilot customers with the MAN Roland DirectDrive technology. The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive operates with directly driven plate cylinders in all printing units. The use of this future-directed technology in combination with QuickChange, the MAN Roland makeready-reducing package with many presetting functions, and APL, the automatic plate change system, can substantially cut makeready times. With plate change system, wash up of blanket cylinders, impression cylinders and inking units, plus ink feed, up to 60 percent of makeready time can be saved: best preconditions for a record-setting performance.
