Day2_20

GraphExpo_ShowDaily_September_26_2016

With its Automation Features, manroland Pushes All the Right Buttons In the Press/Finishing Pavilion, manroland web systems (Booth 1119) is showcasing all the ways in which it can help make its customers more productive. At the top of the list is its suite of autoprint capabilities, including the AutoJobChange control package with QuickStart pre-inking; AutomaticPlateLoading (APL); and quality assurance functions with Inline Control systems for cut-off and color registers, as well as ink density. The company is also showing off its Lithoman press platform. With a web width of 2.86 meters, the 96-page Lithoman can print up to 4.32 million A4 pages per hour. The platform can produce catalogs, magazines, and supplements of 8, 16, 24, 32, 48, and 96 pages, all from a full-width web. “For many printers, they’re able to produce the same range of 64- up to 104- page productions,” says Jason Elliott, VP, Sales, manroland web systems. “That page count is up there with gravure machines, but with the cheaper manufacturing of offset, printers are able to get that level of output with only a few operators. They’re getting a lot of bang for their buck.” The company’s Geoman e:line web press is well-suited to changes in the newspaper industry. “The newspaper market is consolidating in a number of ways,” says Elliott. “From the perspective of ownership, mid-size companies are growing because they’re picking up many papers.” On the other hand is the growing “print center” concept. “These companies are picking up papers, but they’re shutting down production and centralizing it from a regional site,” says Elliott. “Geoman is great press for that. It’s economical with high output speed and fl exibility in production.” The Geoman platform offers output speed up to 90,000 impressions per hour, with a high degree of automation, all in a very compact design. “It offers a lot of output in a very small footprint” says Elliott. Also in the booth is manroland’s “big beast,” the Colorman, an economical option for very high production output. “A lot of newspaper printers could replace two to six presses with one Colorman,” says Elliott. But it’s the automation features that are manroland’s calling card, features that by necessity are retrofi ttable to older presses. “The presses are so automated and integrate so much technology, and we have to support our customers through the entire product lifecycle,” says Elliott. “As drive systems age, we need to replace them with new technology.” And it isn’t just for manroland’s presses. “The natural thing for us is to offer retrofi tting on our equipment, and now have started to offer it on competitive equipment as well,” says Elliott. Although known predominantly for its press platforms, manroland has been actively pursuing digital fi nishing, with its digital print fi nishing modules including the pin folder FoldLine and the FormerLine. Both modules are designed for short-run digital book production, allowing complete book blocks to be produced in offl ine/nearline or even complete inline processes. Offshore Drilling Company Purchases 70 Sharp Pro Series Color Document Systems An offshore drilling company was having trouble keeping up with its printing volume. Additionally, its existing document systems continued to break down. At times, nearly 1/6 of its fl eet of 129 machines would be out of service. Not only did the machines break down frequently, but it took a long time for them to be serviced and fi xed—sometimes as long as several weeks would go by before a service representative could visit the offi ce. The company needed a solid product that would be easy to use, keep up with the volume of work, and be serviced in a timely manner. Additionally, because the company’s IT team operated from a different location than many of the document systems, the team needed the ability to be able to access the machines remotely. A robust solution After a lengthy bid and test process the deal was sealed with a fl eet of seventy 65 page per minute MX-6500N Sharp (Formax Booth 1319) Pro Series Color Document Systems from TLC Offi ce Systems, headquartered in Houston, TX. TLC Offi ce Systems was able to cut the existing fl eet by almost half by replacing 129 machines with 70 of the more robust Pro Series models. The Sharp systems’ large volume capacity meant that what would normally be done on two printers could now be done on a single machine. The Pro Series Color Document System’s ability to collate and fi nish full-bleed color booklets was an added benefi t that would pay dividends, in that it would help to reduce outsourcing costs as well as production time for projects that were being currently outsourced. A customized user interface (UI) utilizing an intuitive touch-screen provided employees with the ability to copy, scan, fax or email easily right at the machines. Further streamlining their workfl ow, Sharp OSA technology allowed for smooth integration with the company’s existing Active Directory service and their new cloud-based fax solution, enabling users to scan, fax and email directly from the devices. The company’s IT team was delighted with their ability to support the document systems remotely with Sharp’s Remote Front Panel feature that allows administrators to view and control the machine’s LCD panel from a PC to troubleshoot issues and train operators. This feature is invaluable to the IT department in managing their MFP fl eet. Proven results Despite the large volume of daily printing, faxing and copying required of the machines, uptime has improved immensely. Thanks to the Sharp Remote Front Panel, the IT department can now service or load new features to the document systems remotely. When changes are made by the IT department, a clone fi le is pushed to the machine and the Remote Front Panel provides a real time assessment of the installation. Additionally, whenever there is an issue that needs immediate attention, the TLC team responds quickly and effi ciently. The customized UI is easy to use and requires little to no training, a feature loved throughout the organization. And, the fact that the Sharp OSA platform enables seamless integration with the fax server cloud technology, means that operation is simple and saves the customer from adding additional phone lines just for faxing. The company is happy to now have products they trust on board. manroland web systems developed reel-to-book block solutions for digital book production with the FormerLine. 20 | September 26, 2016 | GRAPH EXPO 16 Offi cial Show Daily | PrintingNews.com


GraphExpo_ShowDaily_September_26_2016
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