Van Marle Grafische Bedrijven
03/31/2011
Van Marle Grafische Bedrijven in Hengelo, the Netherlands, uses
surface finishing to stand out from the crowd with special effects.
The print shop is one of the first in the world to use a
Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor UV for wet offset printing.
"Our aim is to be an attractive partner for customers," explains
Managing Di-rector Paul van Marle. "We need to keep coming up with
special solutions if we are to enjoy continued success on a
struggling market where there is great pressure on prices," he
adds. For quite some time, the Dutch print shop has been interested
in the technology of the Speedmaster SM 52 with zoneless Anicolor
inking unit. Its many benefits include top quality, short makeready
times, and minimal waste. A press with UV equipment is the best
option for printing on materials such as PP, PE, and vinyl - a
service that Van Marle offers to stand out from conventional
commercial print shops. The ideal solu-tion is a combination of
Anicolor and UV technology, delivering products that can head
straight to postpress following printing.
Since the middle of September 2010, Van Marle has been working with the new Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor UV. The press is used for virtually the entire product portfolio, including all commercial products - such as brochures, catalogs, and covers - and also small packaging products in runs of up to 20,000 on all kinds of paper. The Anicolor is also suitable for printing credit cards, business cards, and smart cards made of various plastics - a steadily growing market segment for which Van Marle predicts a promising future.
Special UV finishing effects such as a high-gloss UV coating, spot coatings, or matt-gloss coatings are particularly effective in making Van Marle's print prod-ucts that little bit different. "Often, a complex type of surface finishing wins us a particular job - and when we complete this successfully, we get more jobs from the same customer," explains van Marle. "That's why, in my opinion, the comparatively expensive UV equipment definitely pays off - even if, on occa-sion, we may only just cover costs for a specific job. Over the long term, our consistently high quality and that special something we offer also represent an investment in customer relations," he adds.
The minimal waste and short makeready times made possible by Anicolor technology are also ideal for the cost-effective printing of special applications such as advertising materials, folders, or plastic cards in very short runs. Cal-culated over an entire year, a print shop using conventional UV printing gets through some 600,000 sheets of plastic foil during setup processes. With Ani-color UV, however, this can be cut to around 90,000 sheets, which represents a saving of more than EUR 250,000.
"The brilliant colors and rapid job processing were key to our final decision," reveals van Marle. "Thanks to the very short drying times and superior output of the Anicolor UV, our throughput is now nearly 40 percent higher than on the conventional SM 52 we used to operate," he adds. A further advantage is the very low waste of around 30 sheets for runs of between 100 and around 50,000 sheets with the Anicolor UV. To ensure a sufficiently wide range of color settings in wet offset printing, Van Marle uses the Heidelberg process inks for paper and foils from the Saphira range. Paper, card, and plastics are printed at a speed of 15,000 sheets per hour - and staff at the print shop in-itially needed to adjust to this production speed. "Heidelberg assisted us while we were getting used to our new investment, and now we are able to get the most out of the press and adapt more readily to the industry trend towards ever shorter delivery times," explains Technical Manager Erik Wolters, who is responsible for ensuring that operations run smoothly. All postpress work is done on site at the print shop. "Since UV technology reduces drying times to virtually zero, we are able to cut, fold, stitch, or die-cut straight after printing. This saves a great deal of time - especially given the trend towards much more complex print motifs and the correspondingly large amount of ink and/or coating that needs to be applied," explains Wolters.
"Our ongoing investment over the past 15 years has ensured that we are al-ways in a position to offer something that little bit special, and the Anicolor UV is part and parcel of this strategy," concludes van Marle.
Figure: Inked up after just 30 sheets - Paul van Marle and Erik Wolters during a quality control check on the Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor UV.
Since the middle of September 2010, Van Marle has been working with the new Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor UV. The press is used for virtually the entire product portfolio, including all commercial products - such as brochures, catalogs, and covers - and also small packaging products in runs of up to 20,000 on all kinds of paper. The Anicolor is also suitable for printing credit cards, business cards, and smart cards made of various plastics - a steadily growing market segment for which Van Marle predicts a promising future.
Special UV finishing effects such as a high-gloss UV coating, spot coatings, or matt-gloss coatings are particularly effective in making Van Marle's print prod-ucts that little bit different. "Often, a complex type of surface finishing wins us a particular job - and when we complete this successfully, we get more jobs from the same customer," explains van Marle. "That's why, in my opinion, the comparatively expensive UV equipment definitely pays off - even if, on occa-sion, we may only just cover costs for a specific job. Over the long term, our consistently high quality and that special something we offer also represent an investment in customer relations," he adds.
The minimal waste and short makeready times made possible by Anicolor technology are also ideal for the cost-effective printing of special applications such as advertising materials, folders, or plastic cards in very short runs. Cal-culated over an entire year, a print shop using conventional UV printing gets through some 600,000 sheets of plastic foil during setup processes. With Ani-color UV, however, this can be cut to around 90,000 sheets, which represents a saving of more than EUR 250,000.
"The brilliant colors and rapid job processing were key to our final decision," reveals van Marle. "Thanks to the very short drying times and superior output of the Anicolor UV, our throughput is now nearly 40 percent higher than on the conventional SM 52 we used to operate," he adds. A further advantage is the very low waste of around 30 sheets for runs of between 100 and around 50,000 sheets with the Anicolor UV. To ensure a sufficiently wide range of color settings in wet offset printing, Van Marle uses the Heidelberg process inks for paper and foils from the Saphira range. Paper, card, and plastics are printed at a speed of 15,000 sheets per hour - and staff at the print shop in-itially needed to adjust to this production speed. "Heidelberg assisted us while we were getting used to our new investment, and now we are able to get the most out of the press and adapt more readily to the industry trend towards ever shorter delivery times," explains Technical Manager Erik Wolters, who is responsible for ensuring that operations run smoothly. All postpress work is done on site at the print shop. "Since UV technology reduces drying times to virtually zero, we are able to cut, fold, stitch, or die-cut straight after printing. This saves a great deal of time - especially given the trend towards much more complex print motifs and the correspondingly large amount of ink and/or coating that needs to be applied," explains Wolters.
"Our ongoing investment over the past 15 years has ensured that we are al-ways in a position to offer something that little bit special, and the Anicolor UV is part and parcel of this strategy," concludes van Marle.
Figure: Inked up after just 30 sheets - Paul van Marle and Erik Wolters during a quality control check on the Speedmaster SM 52 Anicolor UV.
PDF Download: Equipment
Here you can download information about the equipment of the Speedmaster XL 75 in PDF format.
