Shrinking Presses, Rising Profits

"Oftentimes it is more cost-effective for a printer to take out several older, slower presses and replace them with just one new press," adds Doug Schardt, product manager for Komori.

According to Sakurai's Grego, press automation is all about survival: "We don't offer a stripped down version [to reduce price] on any model. We know printers need these features in order to survive over the next decade," he says. "Instead, Sakurai's approach has been to focus on incorporating a unified design into mechanical and electrical parts that allows them to be manufactured economically in large quantities. In that way we can hold down costs."