Premier Italian commercial printer upgrades Oxy Dry blanket washing system and installs new system following ROI success
7/13/2010
An interview with Mediagraf production manager Mr Davide Dei Rossi
Background on Mediagraf
The Mediagraf Group is one of the leading commercial printers in Italy with printing plants in Padua (Padova) and Rome. The group has state-of-the-art production facilities for sheetfed and commercial web offset printing. In Padua alone, one million books, 80 million catalogues and 60 million journals are produced each year for international publishing houses and customers from trade and industry. In addition the Church, with numerous religious publications in the book and journal sector, is one of the group’s major customers. From the fully digitised pre-press followed by printing through to further processing and shipping logistics, the company has created a highly automated workflow which guarantees its customers maximum quality and efficiency in all stages of production.
In addition to several sheetfed presses, four web offset presses ranging from 16 to 64 pages are currently in action at Mediagraf’s huge production site in Padua (Padova). And a fifth web press enhances production facilities at the Rome print plant.
As one of the largest commercial printers in Italy, Mediagraf has a turnover of about €70 million, and ended the 2009 fiscal year with a profit for the sixth consecutive year. The company employs around 200 people at its two production sites. The production is mainly domestic (95%), comprising 60% of catholic and local publications, and a 40% of large distribution.
The Protech CW upgrade: What was the reason for your choice?
In August 2006 a 48-page KBA Compacta 618 started production at Mediagraf. It was equipped with Oxy Dry’s blanket washing system. The double-width press can produce up to 45,000 high-quality copies every hour. Automatic reel feed, a web inspection system, web-threading device, semi-automatic plate changers on the printing units and inline ink measurement and control makes the Compacta 618 a highly automated and productive machine for industrial print production.
In August last year (2009) Mediagraf decided to invest in the upgrade of the Oxy Dry blanket washing system for its older KBA C818 press to the newest version named Protech CW and which, thanks to its high-tech design – including a new Baldwin spray bar technology for water and solvent – provides a huge reduction in waste in terms of paper and solvent.
“ Four years ago we installed a new KBA C618 press equipped with the new Protech CW system, and we immediately noticed the differences between the two systems, and the excellent results gained from the new equipment. When Baldwin later proposed the upgrade for the system installed on the earlier KBA C818, which was installed in 2001, we immediately saw this as an excellent opportunity and started to calculate what the return on our investment (ROI) would be.
“That said, we expect to use this press for seven more years, and considered this the very best time to maximize the benefit of the investment.”
Do you think that the proposed upgrade price makes the purchase a sound investment?
“For sure, even if only the new system gives benefits in terms of waste reduction. But it also provides 12 months warranty on replaced parts, including pumps and all the washing heads, and all new brushes. The existing ones, after eight years of use, were very close to being in need of refurbishment or renewed. I called them ‘collateral benefits’.
Did the investment meet your expectations?
“Completely: until now, after more than nine months, the results obtained have matched perfectly our ROI (return of investment) calculation. You have to consider that for our evaluations we took the data relevant to our real production, and not those relevant to a generic KBA C818 press; so the web width considered is our mid range width of 1450 mm, and not the maximum web width; and the paper weight is 51 gr/sm. Nevertheless we normally use around 30% of ‘customer paper’ so we can’t consider any saving in monetary for our business… but just good for environmental purposes.
“We should also consider the paper breaks that an aged system may cause sometimes”.
manroland Rotoman press enhancement
At the Padua printing plant Mediagraf operates the two KBA presses referred to above (C618 and C818), and two manroland presses – a Lithoman IV installed in 2000 and a Rotoman installed during 2009. The Rotoman is equipped with Baldwin equipment, including the Baldwin webTack gluing system.
What made you decide on Baldwin?
“There are three main reasons for our choice:
- The positive experience we had with the Baldwin equipment which equips all the other presses
- The possibility to have a complete package of several ancillaries by having Baldwin as a unique supplier for all blanket and impression cylinder washing, chill roller cleaning, web catcher and gluing systems.
“Concerning the WebTack gluing system, I can tell you that we all are very pleased by the system: the glue line is always very fine and precise, without the typical ‘glue nose’. And this is particularly so on low pagination and quite light paper production; when the glue line is too wide the result is a product difficult to open and which sometimes breaks apart.
“The operators very much need and appreciate the advantage of being able to adjust the head position on the three axis (across the web, around the circumference and the depth into the paper) directly from the main desk.
“And last but not least there is a great advantage of being able to change from a glue application to water line without any need to clean the system, yielding a significant improvement in the production time. This is particularly useful for those printers, like us, who alternate daily production with and without the use of glue.
About Baldwin
Baldwin Technology Company, Inc. is a leading international supplier of process automation equipment and related consumables for the printing and publishing industries. Baldwin offers its customers a broad range of market-leading technologies, products and systems that enhance the quality of printed products and improve the economic and environmental efficiency of the printing process. Headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut, the Company has operations strategically located in the major print markets and distributes its products via a global sales and service infrastructure. Baldwin’s technology and products include cleaning systems, fluid management and ink control systems, web press protection systems and drying systems and related consumables. For more information, visit http://www.baldwintech.com
Contacts
Per Schröder
per.schroder@baldwin.se
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