Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) is unveiling a new
inspection solution for the Speedmaster XL 105 at drupa 2008:
Prinect Inspection Control / PDF. This new innovation extends the
Prinect product portfolio to include inline inspection solutions
developed specifically for print shops producing packaging and
packaging inserts for the pharmaceutical industry.
The new sheet inspection system is based on two
high-resolution grayscale line scan cameras and delivers
uncompromising, 100 percent monitoring and documentation of the
entire run in the press. In an automatic and objective process,
Prinect Inspection Control / PDF uses the prepress PDF to check the
first print sheet rapidly and reliably before approval to print. As
a result, errors on the printing plate and print errors are
detected immediately and can be remedied at an early stage. This
ensures that all print sheets meet customer requirements both when
printing starts and during the production run.
Besides PDF inline checking, PDF prepress data can also be
used to define critical inspection areas and relevant tolerances.
Texts, barcodes, and logos, for example, can be inspected in
greater detail than the rest of the repeat. These presettings cut
inspection and setup times on the Speedmaster XL 105 with Prinect
Inspection Control considerably.
Prinect Inspection Control / PDF delivers end-to-end
monitoring of each individual sheet on the fly, which exceeds the
requirement of the pharmaceutical industry that the first and last
sheet undergo full quality control. What's more, all quality
control results can be seamlessly documented and tracked, which
dramatically boosts the transparency of production processes. As
monitoring is performed inline, quality control procedures are
accelerated, while the reliability of production processes is also
improved.
"The new system enables packaging manufacturers who
specialize in pharmaceutical print products to offer their
customers additional quality control services that go above and
beyond the standards laid down by the pharmaceutical industry.
What's more, the system also enables print shops to improve the
speed, reliability, and transparency of their production
processes," explains Dr. Jürgen Rautert, Board Member
responsible for Engineering and Manufacturing at Heidelberg,
highlighting the benefits of the innovation.
"Our customers have extremely high demands when it comes
to ensuring their packaging is completely free of errors in terms
of color deviation, print, materials, and most importantly product
composition texts. This development focuses on all these areas and
even allows a PDF comparison of fonts as small as 6 points.
Together, simplified decentralized handling and inline measurement
deliver greater quality and reliability, combined with clear
improvements in productivity," explains Joachim Würz,
Managing Director at Karl Knauer KG in Biberach (Germany), which
was a development partner and the first pilot user of the inline
inspection solution with PDF reference image comparison.
At drupa, Heidelberg is exhibiting both inspection solutions
together for the first time on two Speedmaster XL 105 presses in
Hall 2, where the company is demonstrating its broad range of
Prinect measuring and quality systems for packaging printing. While
the color inspection system with prepress connection is targeted at
packaging, label, and high-quality commercial printers, Prinect
Inspection Control / PDF is aimed at print shops manufacturing
products for the pharmaceutical industry, where safety is a key
issue. Inspection Control is incredibly easy to operate direct from
the new Prinect Press Center control station with wallscreen and is
the ideal tool for rapidly and reliably analyzing and evaluating
errors. The PDF data used for presetting and for PDF inline
checking is supplied by the new JDF-based Prinect workflow for
packaging printing.
The rapid and early detection of errors helps to cut paper
waste and lowers the costs associated with quality control and
complaint handling. As a result, both systems deliver seamless
monitoring and documentation of the entire run - an outstanding
advantage when seeking to boost customer loyalty and attract new
business.
Image:
The new inline PDF comparison sheet inspection system on a
Speedmaster XL 105 at Karl Knauer KG.
For further information, please contact:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Matthias Hartung
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 77
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 50 69
E-mail:
matthias.hartung@heidelberg.com