Lasermax Roll Systems to Announces New High-Speed Stack System, Show Quality Assurance System
LJUNGBY, SWEDEN—April 30, 2008—Lasermax Roll Systems will be demonstrating the first modules of its new LX700 product line for roll-fed digital printers at Drupa 2008. This demonstration will be in their stand B61 in Hall 6 and will showcase significant advances in technology for cutting and stacking forms in-line with the fastest continuous feed digital printers.
“The LX700 product line is being developed to support the increasing requirements of new digital printers and the anticipation of even greater speed increases in the years ahead,” says Bill Carroll, President and CEO for Lasermax Roll Systems. “The system that will be shown in our stand at Drupa also includes several new capabilities for handling lightweight paper in response to increasing needs by our customers.”
The LX700 is being designed and built around the highly successful LX500 platform. Since 2001, the LX500 products have provided unprecedented reliability to digital print operations. Today, the LX500 products have the largest market share worldwide (for digital pre and post-processing) and demand for the products continues to increase. “The ultimate introduction of the LX700 products to the market will expand on the proven technology of the LX500 products providing additional capabilities as well as ensuring speed compatibility with new digital printers in the years to come,” states Carroll.
Lasermax Roll Systems is currently developing two versions of cutting and stacking solutions for its new LX700 product line. The first is targeted at the commercial print market and has many special features designed to reliably cut and stack lightweight paper at very high speeds. This is the version that will be demonstrated in their stand at Drupa 2008. The second version is targeted at both the commercial print and transactional markets to run applications in standard paperweights at high speeds or with frequent stack deliveries.
These LX700 stacking solutions will be capable of operating in-line with the highest speed roll-fed digital printers to produce 1-up, 2-up, 3-up or 2-up merged stacks from a wide range of media including lightweight paper with or without tractor feed holes. Both solutions use a new stack alignment section to guide sheets and separate 2-up or 3-up stacks. Jobs or book blocks can be automatically offset within the stacks for easy operator handling. New stacking technology also includes an internal accumulation during delivery cycles, which drastically reduces or eliminates the need for a large web-buffering device after the printer.
Operating at significantly higher speeds, the LX700 solutions will initially support printer speeds up to 600 feet per minute using improved rotary cutting technology for maximum reliability and accuracy. The cutter design includes a reject gate to divert “waste sheets” created during load routines, incomplete jobs, and with many of the current color digital printer models.
Many other productivity enhancements have been incorporated into the LX700 products with an overall design focus on maintaining maximum control of the paper through the entire web path both within product modules and the paper loops between modules.
The LX700 line will be capable of an in-line connection to third party finishing equipment to produce signatures, saddle-stitched booklets, perfect bound books or newspapers in-line with the printer. This is especially important to the commercial print market and to service bureaus to provide a complete end-to-end document solution.
As with the LX500 products, the LX700 line will continue to include user-friendly, touch-screen control panels, ergonomic designs with easy-to-reach operator adjustments, a guided support system, on-board diagnostics, and a UP3i compliant interface.
Lasermax Roll Systems also will demonstrate Web Vision™, a digital print quality assurance system at Drupa 2008 in Hall 6 stand B61. Building upon multiple successful installations in the United States at major insurance and financial institutions, Web Vision will now become available to the European market.
Web Vision is an Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) system that operates in-line with roll-fed digital printers. Using high-resolution cameras to scan both sides of the web, Web Vision captures and examines very large, high quality images of digitally printed bills, statements and documents, to enable automated analysis of data integrity, image quality, and workflow processes:
Data integrity: With the use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR), customer statement account identifiers and sequence numbers can be checked for logical content. Data in separate fields can be checked for self-consistency including front-to-back of form validation.
Image quality: Based on appropriate test images, Web Vision analyzes the print uniformity at any point across the web. It also checks for smears, streaks, and localized artifacts such as specks or scratches in the image.
Workflow processes: Web Vision can monitor the alignment of print relative to pre-print, and confirm that the correct paper roll is loaded. The system also can check 1D and 2D barcodes for quality, readability, and placement accuracy to ensure smooth down-stream processing.
The Web Vision system provides automated analysis immediately after printing, identifying problems as soon as possible for substantially improved efficiency. “With increasing printer speeds, and the common use of barcodes, it is nearly impossible for operators to perform manual inspections of print quality,” says John Fiske, Director of Product Management for Web Vision. “This automated, real-time feedback practically eliminates reprint costs, which saves on labor, paper, toner, and print maintenance.”
A powerful feature of the system is its ability to take predetermined actions that are defined by the user. Web Vision can inspect every page printed and depending on the error detected, automatically shut down the print line, activate an alert light or buzzer, or simply log the error to a report. Comprehensive reporting capabilities include: daily and monthly summaries, printer run time, amount of paper, number of stops, stops performed by the Web Vision, and specific data on any quality errors.
A Central Monitor is available for multiple line installations to monitor the status and collect data from all the lines. It can detect duplicate printing across lines and can be connected to an Automated Document Factory (ADF) system.
Collectively these tools dramatically increase overall productivity and efficiency of the print line. The time savings realized by virtually eliminating reprints allows companies to produce more output without increasing their labor or material costs. Web Vision also ensures a better quality product and prevents mistakes from entering the mailroom.
Lasermax Roll Systems is the worldwide leader in automated paper handling, processing, and vision-based quality control systems for digital print production. Its products are manufactured in Sweden and the USA, and are installed in more than 50 countries worldwide.
