Heidelberg

Transporting plates to an automatic platesetter can be a clumsy business in small or confined areas—unless the plates are riding on the specially designed cassette trolley for Heidelberg’s Prosetter or Suprasetter CtP units. The ergonomically friendly trolley can be raised at an angle when the cassette is being loaded, making it much easier to insert the plates. Moreover, the trolley can be transported in this position—a real help when working in small rooms with standard doorways and when transporting large printing plates. Loading from the 31.5” wide trolley into the Single Cassette Loader (SCL) or Multi Cassette Loader (MCL) system is almost effortless. Simply

During printing, feeding and transfer problems can cause sheets to become creased. Among the possible reasons for creasing are incorrectly set or jamming front lays; side lays that draw with too much force; a hold-down device that has been set too tightly; an air blast that is too strong; an incorrect air pressure setting at the point of sheet transfer; poorly functioning or dirty grippers; and excessive or uneven pressure between the rubber and the impression cylinder. To minimize creasing, do the following: • Inspect the front and side lays • Avoid setting the hold-down device too tightly • Reduce the air blast on

When cutting waste from statically charged material or plastic sticks to the knife, it has to be removed manually. This tedious task can be eliminated with the AirKnife, available as an option for new orders of POLAR Autotrim high-speed cutters 115, 137, and 155. With AirKnife, an adjustable volume of compressed air is blown through openings in the carbon-tipped knife at intervals while the machine is cutting, forming an air layer between the knife and the material being cut. This keeps both cutting waste and the cutting material from adhering to the knife, doing away with the need to clear the knife after every

KENNESAW, GA—July 2, 2007—Heidelberg USA announced that two of its Prinect workflow solutions, MetaDimension RIP and Signa Station, recently were recognized by leading graphic arts industry organizations. Both products were certified as JDF-compliant by The Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF), which handles certification for the International Cooperation for Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4) organization. Heidelberg MetaDimension also was honored by the International Prepress Association (IPA) at its annual IPA Technical Conference in Chicago in June as a color management system that will deliver a highly accurate proof to press sheet match. The product passed all 15 criteria

KENNESAW, GA—June 29, 2007—Heidelberg USA announces the following new product installations: Century Graphics Begins a New Era with Heidelberg’s Speedmaster XL 105 Richard Bonham, owner of Century Graphics in Columbus, Ohio, has been a Heidelberg fan since he began working with the 6-color Speedmaster SM 72 more than 15 years ago. He later added another Speedmaster SM 72, this time a 5-color, to his pressroom and recently went looking for a new Heidelberg press to keep up with the company’s growth. A trip to the Print Media Demonstration Center at Heidelberg’s headquarters in Kennesaw, Ga. helped him make up his mind. “When I saw

SINGAPORE—June 28, 2007—The second education summit of Heidelberg’s Print Media Academy took place from May 8th to 11th in Singapore under the motto “Attract best talents to study printing.” Six top-notch representatives from international universities and vocational schools for print and media discussed new ways of collaboration and innovative training options in the print media industry. The Print Media Academy of the Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in Germany was the event initiator. The education summit’s key question was: “How can the urgently needed students for the print and media branches be recruited?” In most countries, the print media industry cannot sufficiently cover its high need

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—06/21/2007—For the past four months, Fotorotar AG, based in Egg near Zurich, has been testing the Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 52 five-color press with coating unit and Anicolor short inking unit. More than one million sheets have been produced so far. Heidelberg introduced the new Anicolor inking unit technology on a Speedmaster SM 52 four-color press at Ipex 06; order levels for this press have exceeded expectations. The Anicolor five-color version is scheduled to enter series production in the first quarter of 2008. The innovative Anicolor inking unit brings the benefits of offset printing to even the shortest of runs and helps significantly improve margins

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY—06/13/2007—Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) clearly increased both sales and earnings in financial year 2006/2007 (April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007). “For the fourth year in succession, we have been able to draw on the upswing in the global economy and the resultant upward trend in our industry,” stated Bernhard Schreier, CEO of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG. “For the current financial year, we are expecting moderate growth in the volume of business,” he added. Sales by the Heidelberg Group during the period under review climbed six percent to 3.803 billion Euro (previous year: 3.586 billion Euro). The fourth quarter alone returned sales of 1.214 billion

Every printer knows what happens when sheets of paper become electrostatically charged: they stick together as they're taken in from the stack, potentially stopping up the feeder. A static charge is especially likely to build up when paper that is too dry is printed in cold weather and other times of low atmospheric humidity. To control static, the moisture content of paper should range between 45% and 55%. Working spaces should be air-conditioned or humidified at a 50% to 55% level of relative humidity. Antistatic equipment such as discharge electrodes and ionic blowers reduce electrostatic charge by raising the surrounding air’s electronic conductivity,

Prepress and Press Capabilities Are Enhanced THREE RIVERS, MI—DeGraaf’x Inc. has streamlined its workflow with a new five-color Heidelberg Printmaster PM 52 perfector and Prosetter P 52 platesetter, as well as several elements of Heidelberg’s Prinect workflow system, including Signa Station, Printready System and MetaDimension. Marek Dives Into Digital WAUKESHA, WI—Tamara Marek, president, and Fuzzy Marek, CEO, purchased a new Kodak Digimaster EX138 system, a NexPress 2500 press and NexGlosser glossing unit for their printing operation, The Marek Group. The digital technology was installed to help the company handle its expanding Web- to-print business. CALIFORNIA CARLSBAD—L + L Printers installed