Offset Printing

Komori International Europe Open House Report

Tuesday 30. November 2010 - At 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 9, 2010, with winter already in the air across Holland, Komori International Europe (KIE) launched a three-day Offset On Demand Open House near the city of Utrecht, 30 km south of Amsterdam.

Although the weather on the first day was bleak – cloudy with occasional rain and a high temperature of just 6ºC – visitors began arriving around noon and surveyed the KIE showroom while waiting for the event to start.
This open house was supported by the following vendors, who linked their products into the demonstrations and also offered their own presentations in their respective exhibition areas:
Kodak (prepress and CTP), Horizon International (post-press), PrintVis (MIS), Toyo Ink (ink), Van Son (ink), UPM (printing paper), Technotrans (peripherals), Baldwin (peripherals) and AtéCé (graphic arts materials).
In addition, KIE’s Service Department set up an area to provide visitors with briefings on service and software upgrades.
After KIE President Kajita launched the open house at 1:00 p.m., Komori Corporation Chairman, President and CEO Yoshiharu Komori offered the following welcome address to the guests.
“Hello ladies and gentlemen, I am Yoshiharu Komori, the Chairman of Komori Corporation.
I am delighted to welcome you to our new European Graphic Centre, the technology centre for print research and development, as well as for service and customer training for the range of offset printing solutions available from Komori. I also would like to take the opportunity to thank all the partners who have decided to take part in this event.
Over the last several years, the graphic arts industry has been facing the unprecedented dynamism of the global market environment, rigorously demanding changes in every level of the business.
During the coming three days we will demonstrate four of our state-of-the-art technologies in the range of 29 to 40 inch size, as Komori’s answers to the challenges we face.
This time, we are specifically featuring our new innovative print and finishing solutions under the concept of ‘Offset On Demand,’ consisting of ozone-free UV curing technology and high performance inks which maximize the process efficiency and productivity. Since its launch, the system has been enjoying great success in the Japanese market and attracting further attention through international demonstrations held in Japan and in the United States. Here in Europe, together with our partners, we will demonstrate how the system enables you to optimize your production process and improve your productivity using the system on the Lithrone S840P convertible perfector. Furthermore, you will witness the ultimate short make-ready and even shorter turnaround time achieved by the system, which is the key to bringing the offset printing technology into the realm of ‘On Demand.’ I trust the demonstrations will give you the inspiration for many new business opportunities.”
Following this address, presentations were made in the prepress and MIS rooms and a presentation on the MIS-connected K-Station and other DoNet systems was provided in the CTP room. Next, the Offset On Demand demonstration on the eight-color Lithrone S40P perfector equipped with the H-UV system was initiated.
Neil Wrigglesworth, deputy director of the Komori Graphic Technology Center, made the presentations.
First, the speed of drying was shown by four-color printing on both sides on BIO TOP 3 Natural, an FSC-certified paper that is known for being extremely difficult to dry, at the maximum printing speed of 15,000 sheets per hour. This printing paper requires at least half a day or more when using ordinary oil-based printing. The printers, based on their familiarity with the high printing technologies of Europe, were astonished at the instantaneous drying that followed two-sided printing. The printed sheets were taken to the paper guillotine immediately after printing, passed to the saddle-stitching system after being cut to the required size, and then bound and stitched into a brochure that was immediately passed out during the demonstrations.
After the plates were changed by the Full-APC system, the next job was printed on gloss coated paper. To show ’20 Matching,’ in which the proper densities are reached after just 20 sheets of printing start-up through the use of KHS-AI, the first 20 printed sheets were pulled out and placed in order on a table in front of the press so that the visitors could check the color stabilization. The effective value was also explained. In addition, although there are print quality differences between the front and back sides of the sheet with conventional oil-based printing inks due to the effect of the jackets on the perfecting cylinders, this demonstration showed the visitors that there are no front/back print quality differences because the first side is dried by H-UV before turning the sheet, and then the other side is printed with smooth impression cylinder surfaces.
Komori’s latest technologies were also introduced during the demonstrations. The new A-APC (Asynchronous Automatic Plate Changing) system, the PDC-SX Print Density Control-Spectrophotometer system with automatic register adjustment, and the PQA-S Print Quality Assessment, which includes an automatic in-line density measurement function were explained using video projected on monitors.
Several samples of high added-value printed products produced using the H-UV system were also shown and explained. The future expandability of H-UV printing was presented by showing, as examples, high-gloss coating, printing on aluminum metallized paper, printing on film such as PP and PET, drip-off effects, printing on heavy stock, and printing with silver and gold inks.
As soon as the demonstration on the LS40P was concluded, the presentation on the post-press system that had been previously set up was started. How the printed items were finished and made into a 16-page saddle-stitched brochure was explained by carrying out the processing with a live job using the actual equipment.
A demonstration of a five-color Enthrone 29, a press that debuted at IPEX in the UK this year, started with printing on ordinary coated paper. The plates were then changed, the paper was changed to carton board and the next job was printed on a thick substrate. Printing densities were then checked and adjusted with the PDC-SE spectrophotometer in the PQC above the delivery. The compact Enthrone 29, offering a double-size cylinder arrangement with high print quality and high productivity, attracted many visitors, who watched the demonstration with considerable enthusiasm.
This was followed by a demonstration of UV printing with drip-off UV coating on Komori’s flagship machine – a six-color Lithrone SX40 plus coater operating at the maximum printing speed of 18,000 sheets per hour which was set up in another part of the showroom area. The plates were changed midway through the demo, showing the quick changeover process by means of the KHS-AI Smart Sequence.
A five-color Lithrone S29 plus coater was also used to show 20 Matching and pattern coating in combination with conventional ink, overprint varnish, and aqueous coating.
Printing samples other than those created in the demos were exhibited in a sample gallery set up in a meeting room adjacent to the showroom. The room was full of printing samples, including comparisons of conventional and H-UV printing, consecutive samples that show the stabilization of color within 20 sheets of the start of printing, and samples of high added-value printing created in Japan and the US. An environment that permitted all sorts of explanations was provided. This gallery attracted many visitors who viewed the exhibition with lots of interest.
The second day of the event was also cold, with drizzle, clouds and occasional clear skies, while the third day was clear from the morning, but weather conditions became very bad as rain and winds strengthened due to a hurricane that arose near Great Britain. Nonetheless, many visitors came to the event, not only from nearby countries but also from as far away as Russia. Over the three days, the open house attracted around 500 visitors. This open house, which strongly impressed visitors with the power of Komori’s Offset On Demand and its adaptability to high added-value printing as well as a total workflow, sparked a great many very lively business discussions.
Komori wishes to thank all of the participants who came all the way from many countries to take part in our open house. The Komori Group will hold many such events in the future, and we look forward to seeing all of you again.