Heidelberg will soon launch its most intelligent and automated Speedmaster, with the new units to be made available from April.
The units will house a completely redesigned Prinect Press Center generation, with the new Speedmaster Operating System delivering Push to Stop functionality and connection to the Prinect Cloud.
Heidelberg said many new digital assistance systems, such as the Wash Assistant or Intellirun on the Wallscreen XL, turn the Prinect Press Center into a modern, attractive workstation, and allow the operator to continuously call on the machine’s performance potential.
The hardware for the Speedmaster has evolved as well.
In addition to the larger 24-inch multi-touchscreen, the standard illuminant lighting to ISO 3664:2009 was converted to LED. And switching between standard illuminant D50 and D65 with and without UV is now done simply by pressing a button.
“Following the overwhelming success of Push to Stop at the drupa 2016, we have invested a great deal in advancing the idea of the Smart Print Shop and in taking Push to Stop to a new level,” Heidelberg head of sheetfed product management Rainer Wolf said.
“Software development, of course, plays a key role in this. Heidelberg, however, has also heavily invested in press technology, closing automation gaps, further optimising subprocesses, and developing new applications.
“The result speaks for itself, and we are proud of the innovation fireworks we shall be setting off with the Speedmaster 2020 generation to make sheetfed offset printing even more attractive and cost-effective.
“With our new Speedmaster generation, we offer our customers outstanding conditions to fully exploit the possibilities of modern, digital offset printing.”
Heidelberg has also automated the dampening unit of the Speedmaster XL 106 with the new Hycolor Pro.
The quantity of dampening solution is decided and metered between pan roller and metering roller. The pressing/squeezing required for this purpose can now be carried out by automation directly from the Prinect Press Center.
The basic settings of the dampening unit are recorded digitally, and from the Prinect Press Center XL 3, it is now possible to also adjust the dampening solution metering on only one side.
“About 80 per cent of our inking-related service calls are due to the inaccurate setting of the dampening unit,” Wolf said.
“With Hycolor Pro, we now have defined and measurable settings we can also use for digital Remote Service. From the control panel, the printer can now meter more or less dampening for one side, thus react faster and more sensitively, and approach the scumming point much more precisely.”
Heidelberg has also announced reduced washup time with the LotoTec inking rollers, extended washup systems, and intelligent washup programs; new scalable solutions in the area of printing plate logistics; and zero defect production with intelligent waste paper management enhancements.
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter