World's First Speedmaster XL 105 in Karlsruhe Has Already Printed over 33 Million Sheets |
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| 07/14/2005 |
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The German printing company Engelhardt & Bauer based in Karlsruhe has convincingly demonstrated that there is no contradiction at all in being both productive and flexible. In keeping with their motto, "Printing with IQ!", they coordinate customer advice, organization and technology so perfectly for each job that the most efficient workflow possible results from the interplay of various components. And its new Speedmaster XL 105 from Heidelberg fits ideally into this philosophy.
Engelhardt & Bauer now has 130 employees working on total floor space of 5,000 square meters (approx. 5,980 square yards). The company handles a wide range of jobs: from advertising materials across corporate publishing (annual reports and image brochures, for example) to art and design. Since March 2004, it has been working with a Speedmaster XL 105 as one of the field testers for this press model. Every day E&B produces a variety of short, medium-length and long runs. Periodicals, regularly appearing books, magazines and newsletters only account for a small percentage of the overall workload. The company attaches especially great value to form and color, and therefore adopted innovations such as Hexachrome and highly pigmented inks at a very early stage. The print shop’s mix of custom-tailored products and standardized print media calls for flexible, fast work.
And the new Speedmaster XL 105 from Heidelberg delivers exactly this level of flexibility and efficiency. “We secure the quality and competitive advantages we need by consisting leveraging the most advanced, cost-effective machines available,” says Rigo Fay, the managing director of E&B. “That is why we chose the Speedmaster XL 105, and our investment has paid off handsomely.” He should know - the world’s first XL 105 installation in his pressroom has already printed 33 million sheets, and the trend is going upwards.
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| Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG's Speedmaster XL 105 |
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“Our average run length is around 10,000 copies. We concentrate mainly on high-quality products such as annual reports, art and picture books, and brochures,” explains Fay. His clientele consists of roughly equal numbers of regional and supra-regional companies. Advertising agencies and large corporations with their own advertising departments, including the German Post Office, BASF, debitel and Würth, figure prominently on the customer roster.
Offering something special to clients
“To ensure that our customers get the very best quality, we comprehensively advise them and deploy state-of-the-art technology. On average, we replace our presses every four to six years and the mean age of our current fleet is two-and-a-half years,” says Bernhard Konz, the company’s technical manager. The Speedmaster XL 105, which was newly developed from the ground up, dovetails perfectly with the business strategy of this large commercial print shop, at which the presses are operated two-and-a-half to three shifts a day. “The XL 105 lets us produce jobs in the format of 75 x 105 centimeters (29.53 x 41.34 inches). This is great, because with some jobs we can now fit more ‘ups’ on each sheet,” says Fay. “But the biggest benefits of the Speedmaster XL 105 for us are the achievable level of quality, its high output and productivity, and the cost-effectiveness this translates into. Its top speed of 18,000 sheets per hour is just one aspect of many. It’s especially important that you can take the new press through makeready and run it up to full production speed very quickly. Details like automatic plate changing are very advantageous for our job mix and additionally facilitate our work.”
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| Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG's Preset Plus Feeder |
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The fastest speed the press is capable of is 18,000 sheets per hour and the largest printable sheet measures 750 x 1,050 millimeters (29.53 x 41.34 inches), with the maximum image size being 740 x 1,050 millimeters (29.13 x 41.34 inches). The smallest sheet size is 340 x 480 millimeters (13.39. x 18.9 inches). Stocks between 0.03 and 1 millimeter (approx. 0.0012 and 0.034 inch) thick can be processed. Even though the run lengths at E&B vary greatly, the company profits from the press. For instance, sheet guidance in the XL 105 is specially designed to meet the exacting requirements of the top production speed. The helpful features include large-diameter cylinders for minimal sheet bending, the fully automated AirTransfer system, the ability to store all of the air settings for each job and retrieve them later, and patented spoilers that prevent air turbulence.
The enhanced productivity of the press results from its high degree of automation, its large print format, and its relative ease of operation. “Its productivity is quite a bit greater. On large jobs we can take advantage of its maximum printing speed. And the fast plate changing lets us complete smaller jobs more quickly,” confirms Konz, who is the company’s expert on all technical matters. “You really notice that the new Preset Plus Feeder and Delivery were specially developed for the XL 105 and for these high speeds. And the ability to store the air settings for individual jobs is also a great help.”
The new Speedmaster XL 105 has allowed E&B to boost its output noticeably, also because it can be more universally employed than any other of the company’s presses. “Board, thin paper, you name it - we can print everything on the XL 105,” enthuses Konz. “We no longer have to fret about which jobs to run on it, because it handles everything with the same high level of quality.”
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| Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG's Prinect CD 2000 Center |
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And that is important, because E&B is committed to supplying second-to-none quality to its customers. Outstanding print quality is ensured on the Speedmaster XL 105 with the new Hycolor inking and dampening unit: for example, by separate temperature control for the inking oscillators and fountain roller, which lets them be at different temperatures. “The new inking unit of the XL 105 also lets you apply much more ink to the paper - and the difference in quality really jumps right out at you,” reports Konz.
The goal = growth
The output of the new press, which was reinforced last June by a 10-color Speedmaster SM 102 perfector, is so high that work needs to be carefully coordinated. To ensure punctual delivery of jobs, additional equipment also had to be installed in the finishing department. Saturdays have been workdays for a long time, and when necessary work is also done on Sundays. The machines run from six in the morning until well past midnight, and sometimes around the clock.
The strategy of Engelhardt & Bauert is fully geared to ensuring cost-effectiveness and high quality. “Our volume has increased while prices have fallen. The new presses are helping us to work cost-effectively and stay competitive. That is essential for staying in the race,” concludes Fay.
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Image 1:
Rigo Fay (right) and Bernhard Konz.
Image 2:
Speedmaster XL 105 at the printshop Engelhardt & Bauer.
Image 3:
Feeder of the Speedmaster XL 105.
Image 4:
Prinect CD 2000 Center.
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Engelhardt & Bauer
Engelhardt & Bauer includes three sister companies: E&B-print.ware in Karlsruhe, Druckerei Schmitt in Landau, and WDW-Druck in Sandhausen.
The pressroom contains:
Speedmaster XL 105 five-color, Speedmaster SM 102 ten-color , Speedmaster
CD 102 six-color with coating unit, Speedmaster SM 102 six-color perfector, Speedmaster SM 52 two-color, Speedmaster SM 52 six-color
Engelhardt & Bauer
Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH
Käppelestrasse 10
76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)721 962 26 0
Fax: +49 (0)721 962 26 81
www.ebdruck.de
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