Heidelberg Japan recently hosted an open house day in Tokyo. The new Versafire EV and Versafire EP digital printing systems were presented at the open house and printed 28 different jobs on a wide range of substrates and with different applications. It is aimed at customers who want to realise creative applications and enhanced business models.
Under the motto Smart Print Shop with Push to Stop, the guests from Japan and Asia saw how an integrated workflow incorporates all processes and optimises the overall equipment efficiency (OEE). Push to Stop is setting new rules for the game: whereas in the past the operator had to manually initiate a large number of steps in the production process, now he/she only needs to intervene in the automated process chain as necessary. Thanks to intelligent networking and automation, the machines can organise and handle the production process on their own. This goes as far as autonomous printing, and has the potential to double the OEE. Heidelberg has sold over 400 machines suitable for Push to Stop since it was introduced at drupa 2016.
Japanese and Asian print shops are already highly industrialised, but want further productivity increases to remain competitive and be profitable. They saw the answer at the open house in the shape of a Speedmaster XL 106 eight-colour machine with perfecting, which independently produced twelve magazine signatures with a run length of 150 sheets within 30 minutes. This record was possible thanks to the high level of automation of the machine, standardised jobs, and the integration into the Prinect print shop workflow.
The Speedmaster XL 106 was equipped with Prinect Press Center XL 2, Wallscreen XL, and Intellistart 2 as well as the Prinect Inpress Control 2 inline spectral measurement and control system. The innovative DryStar LED UV drying technology resulted in instantly dry sheets in the delivery, which were sent directly for further processing in the postpress machines also integrated into the workflow – the Stahlfolder KH 82 folding machine and Polar cutting systems. Saphira coordinated consumables from the Lifecycle Solutions division also optimised the overall process.
