SHEETFED PRESSES -- Sizing Up the Options

Productivity gains with larger printing formats can extend beyond the pressroom, points out MAN Roland's Cerfontaine. "A key advantage of larger format presses is that they accelerate the finishing process, which is still very labor-intensive and expensive," he explains. "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."