Shrinking Presses, Rising Profits

As the need for efficiency increases, sheetfed presses are getting smaller, faster and more automated.

By MARK SMITH

Just what is a "mid-size" press?

Most would agree that 40˝ presses fit into the large-format press category, but defining a cutoff point for the mid-size designation has proved more elusive.

"Most manufacturers have discontinued their 26˝-wide presses because the format was just a downsized version of a 28˝/29˝ press with a similar cost," says Mike Grego, marketing manager for Sakurai USA. "We are taking the opposite approach by introducing the compact, 466SIP 26˝ press that is a super-sized version of a 22˝ press. This machine can do almost everything a true half-size press can do, but costs a lot less."

Ray Mullen, vice president of sales and customer service at Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses, says the most significant development in the sheetfed press market during the last 18 months has been the availability of the 23.5x29˝-format press.

"It offers many of the advantages inherent in the smaller format, but at the same time provides greater flexibility in the type of work it can print," he says.

"Presses like our Roland 300 and 500 are redefining the half-size category," points out Christian Cerfontaine, MAN Roland's director of marketing. "Both models feature a six-up, 23x29˝ format instead of the classic four-up size, and they are fast"—16,000 sph and 18,000 sph, respectively.

The breadth of high-quality, high-productivity product offerings is leading to a trend in printers "right-sizing" their pressroom lineups. So says John Dowey, vice president of product management, sheetfed, at Heidelberg USA.

Half-size Presses Save Money

"What that means is printers might consider adding an efficient and modern half- or even three-quarter-size press into their 40˝ press rooms," says Dowey. "These presses offer a lower capital investment and reduced labor costs."

In the current market, 40˝ printers are feeling more of a pinch than half-size shops, adds Sakurai's Grego. "Run lengths are coming down and half-size presses are going faster," he says. "Jobs that might have been considered to be traditional 40˝ work are now being produced on half-size presses more efficiently."

Productivity gains with larger printing formats can extend beyond the pressroom, notes Cerfontaine, of MAN Roland.

"A key advantage of larger-format presses is that they accelerate the finishing process, which is still very labor-intensive and expensive," he says. "Folding one 73˝ sheet into a signature in a single operation, adding a cover and stitching it is faster and more profitable than printing, folding and gathering eight signatures of 29˝ or four signatures of 40˝. Thanks to the high level of automation, the makeready times are the same for all formats."

"It's getting to the point where sheetfeds are competing against the low end of the web market," adds Bob McKinney, director of marketing at KBA North America, Sheetfed Div.

Other issues for potential buyers to consider are the need for large-format platemaking capabilities and the floor space required to fit an oversized press, Mitsubishi's Mullen points out.

More Color, More Automation

Regardless of format size, automation has been on the rise.

"In general, if somebody is committed to buying a new press, they really want to equip it to be as efficient as they can make it," asserts McKinney. "At this point, probably 95 percent of the presses we sell are equipped with the CIP4 option. Shops that do a lot of makereadies also opt for the fully automated plate changing option."

McKinney thinks press manufacturers have gone about as far as they can go with press automation while still providing a reasonable ROI (return on investment). The full impact of all this automation has yet to be felt in the marketplace, however.

"A trend we're starting to see is customers buying presses for efficiency's sake," says Stephan Carter, who was recently named president and COO at Komori America. Many newly installed sheetfed presses are not necessarily intended to increase pressroom capacity, he says, but rather are designed to bolster overall plant productivity and to further speed job turnaround times.

"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."

A Networked Print Shop

MAN Roland's Cerfontaine advises printers to look at the bigger picture when equipping a press.

"Networking separate pieces of equipment in a printing plant to create a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) system is the most important development to implement in order to increase uptime, get more out of the equipment and push flexible JIT (just-in-time) production. This concept incorporates the CIP4-developed JDF workflow," he explains.

Along with support for a CIP4 interface, Mitsubishi's Mullen sees an industry trend toward adding closed-loop color control systems to sheetfed presses. This is done by incorporating scanning densitometer or spectrophotometer systems, he says. Heidelberg's Dowey agrees, noting that most press manufacturers now offer at least an entry-level system for closed-loop measurement and control of color bars via scanning spectrophotometers.

For example, Heidelberg's new AxisControl module for its Prinect system is a spectrophotometry-based color measuring system integrated into the CP2000 press control center. MAN Roland presses can be equipped with a new ColorPilot console that adds spectrophotometry measurements to the classic densitometric readings.

Peripherals Move To Forefront

Heidelberg's Dowey says printers now pay more attention to the components of the total press system.

"Peripherals like dryers, ink temperature controls, powder systems and ink filling devices play an increasingly important role in overall press productivity," he explains.

If technology advances and productivity enhancements are not enough to convince printers this is the time to buy a sheetfed press, KBA's McKinney points out there is currently an added investment incentive available to buyers.

"The Economic Stimulus Bill includes a depreciation bonus," he explains. "Equipment buyers can double the depreciation [to 40 percent instead of 20 percent] they take in the first year. The bill doesn't increase the overall depreciation, but accelerates it in the first year. That can be a real advantage for someone buying a $1 million-plus piece of equipment."