Konnichiwa to the new Shinohara 75

Trade shows have often been favoured as an ideal place to launch new products and technology, and Igas 2003 certainly kept this trend alive. World-renowned press manufacturer Shinohara was one such company to present its latest offering to the masses at Tokyo Big Sight in Japan last month, debuting the new Shinohara 75 VIH and VIHP series presses.

In developing these new presses, the Shinohara team has sought to meld speed and flexibility, offering speeds of up to 17,000 impressions per hour for straight and perfecting printing. The press comes with up to eight colours including an aqueous in-line coater, while adding numerous features to enable printers to select a configuration to suit their individual needs. There are two distinct models that have been added to the 75 series family, the VIH and the VIHP, the main difference being the VIHP comes with the added ability of perfecting and a larger maximum sheet size. The two sheet sizes available are 520x750mm and 585x750mm, with the option to step up jobs to suit a customer’s needs or sheet size; and a choice can be made between high and the new medium pile deliveries, with the medium pile being more affordable.

Two of the primary technologies featuring in the new presses are the Shinohara Pre-Inking System (SPIC) which gives accurate colour on the next job in fewer sheets, and the Shinohara Semi-automatic Plate Changer (SPC), which removes the need for plate bending and makes the use of standing plates easier. The feeder, plate clamping, and blanket washing systems have also been given an overhaul with these additions to the 75 series. A new suction belt feeder system ensures the smooth transport of sheets, while the new automatic blanket washing system uses water, solvent and cloth to prepare blankets between jobs. Shinohara’s plate clamping system means that the press can accept both aluminium and polyester plates. On the press operator’s end, the press features a large, colour liquid crystal display touch screen, bringing all the presses functions to the operator’s fingertips.

Australia bound
According to Tony Hyland, Currie Group territory manager, the new 75VIH and 75VIHP presses from Shinohara continues the press manufacturers history of providing versatile and robust printing solutions to the industry. He believes the new presses are the best he has ever seen, and the interest so thus far generated in Australia will only serve to validate this belief.

“I am a printer by trade and I have been with Curries for nearly 11 years selling the complete range of equipment. I have seen the progression of Shinohara over the years and the new presses I saw at the Igas exhibition were as impressive to me as they were to the customers we had over there from all over Australia,” says Hyland.

“We were leaders with the Shinohara Fujitronics series released in 1993 and the new presses are second to none. I strongly believe the future of Shinohara in this country is as solid as the bases of these presses. Not that I would, but if I was ever to go back to the tools there would only be one press I would want to run, a Shinohara.”

Slated for an Australian release of early 2004, local distributor The Currie Group is eagerly anticipating its chance to familiarise the local industry with what the new press can do. The company considers its relationship with Shinohara in Australia as a very fruitful one indeed, and with its recent sales results, it has every right to be happy. According to Hyland, five Shinohara 52 multi-colour presses have been ordered in recent months, with the first one on the way to installation. The 52 series press now offers 15,000 impressions per hour, with high pile and aqueous in-line coating now available.

Shinohara’s promise
Shinohara believes that to manufacture a truly reliable, high quality printing machine, it has to be done from scratch. This is the reason behind Shinohara’s continuing commitment to operating its own foundry on the Japanese mainland to cast the bases, side frames and numerous other key components of the Shinohara products. This foundry was built in Mariko in 1964, some years after the company’s inception in 1919 but only 16 years after the company turned its hand from manufacturing tool-making machinery towards developing letterpresses. Operating its own foundry means that Shinohara can have control over every step of the process. Shinohara uses this to its advantage, putting systems into place that ensures that every single casting turned out by the foundry is sampled by the foundry’s sophisticated metal analysis equipment to ensure optimum metal composition for each press component. Once casting is complete, cast parts are seasoned in an annealing chamber to enhance its long-term reliability as well as shortening delivery times. This process also gives Shinohara complete control over both the design of its presses and quality. Also, the use of heavier cast iron ensures that at all running speeds, vibration is minimised not only for greater precision in printing operations, but also a longer service life.

Shinohara also has a constant commitment to fitting out is foundry and manufacturing facilities with the latest technologies in machining equipment, measuring devices, and production control computers. Every single part used in its presses are individually measured, calibrated, and machined to micron-level tolerances to ensure that the entire press is manufactured to precision, ensuring that Shinohara’s reputation for reliability remains intact. According to Shinohara, the result of this attention to detail is a printing press that stays on the job, year after year, with an absolute minimum of downtime, which translates into higher profits in the long run.

Precision is paramount in the field of high-quality offset printing, and this is the driving force behind Shinohara’s quality control and quality assurance programmes. It’s not enough for Shinohara to manufacture the press and its components from a tried and true process. The company places great value in communication, endeavouring to keep the communication channels open between its employees, and most importantly, the customers. Shinohara takes great pride in this, as well as the recognition of its presses meeting the international ISO9001 quality standards, which it attributes to its detailed quality assurance programmes.

Major Standard / Optional features

Standard Features
Preloading feeder pile
Mechanical and electronic double-sheet detectors
Skewed and overrun sheet detectors
Suction belt
Remote ink key / ink sweep adjustment
Remote dampening fountain roller speed control
Random side self-oscillating rollers, Rilsan-coated
steel rollers, anti emulsification air knife
Automatic blanket wash-up system Type 1
Sheet decurler, static eliminator, spray powder device
Speed adjustable shhet brake (wheel and suction belt)
Free-standing operation console
POD touchscreen
Automatic ink roller cleaning system Type 1
Semi-automatic perfecting changeover system for perfecting press
Shinohara Pre-Inking System (SPIS)

Optional Features
Anti-static blower on feeder head
Non-stop feeder
Oscillating ink form rollers
Temperature controlled printing system
Plate clamp cocking system
Shinohara quick plate clamp system
Shinohara Semi-automatic Plate Changer (SPC)
Cardboard printing system (straight press only)
Super Blue anti-marking material kit
Infrared drying device
Tab inserter
Paper size pre-set system
Shinohara Register-mark and Image-area Measurement device (SRIM)
Aqueous in-line coater
Shinohara Colour Control Station (SCCS)

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