Baldwin Ensures Tip Top Output At Coptip
3/23/2007
Italian web offset house, Coptip Industrie Grafiche Società Cooperativa, has ensured that it will obtain the greatest productivity from its recently installed 72-page MAN Lithoman IV by equipping the press with a range of industry-leading systems from Baldwin Technology. These include Impact Flex automatic blanket cleaners, WebCatchers, SoftWeb remoisturising facilities and a MicroSet 497, which is a contactless system for inline longitudinal gluing. Coptip has purchased its MicroSet 497 with seven applicator heads. The new press is the second 72-page Lithoman IV at the Modena site. The first model, installed in 2004, is also fitted with Baldwin equipment and it was Coptip’s experience of this technology that secured the latest order for Baldwin.
"The Impact Flex, WebCatcher S15 and SoftWeb technologies we installed on our first Lithoman IV impressed us from the start,” says president, Giancarlo Panini. “Baldwin provided us with reliable support after the equipment had been commissioned, even though this usually involved engineers travelling from Germany. However, now Baldwin has opened a subsidiary in Italy, our partnership is even better.”
Coptip, which is a cooperative employing almost 80 people, caters mainly for the Italian domestic market. The company specialises in the production of catalogues and advertising inserts as well as publishing products such as magazines, dictionaries, and encyclopaedias. Its key accounts include national tour operators, supermarket chains, food manufacturers and makers of furniture and kitchen technology. The recent transition to web offset presses with higher page counts was largely driven by orders from its retail chain customers.
The Lithoman IV presses are operated around the clock from Monday to Friday. Blankets normally have to be cleaned every 35,000 cylinder revolutions and, as the average run length is 250,000, several intermediate cleaning cycles are necessary during most print jobs. Impact ensures automatic cleaning of blankets simultaneously on all printing units, which significantly reduces makeready times and waste. Each press has four double print units and eight Impact wash bars. The use of Prepac cloth, which is impregnated with an environmentally friendly cleaning agent, enables Coptip to combine high cleaning quality with short makeready cycles and convenient material handling.
Baldwin’s WebCatcher automatic web catching system eliminates the damage that can be caused to a press by a web break. Coptip has installed a WebCatcher S15 on both Lithoman IV presses, between the last printing unit and the hot air dryer. If the detectors report a web break, the press control system automatically initiates an emergency stop, and activates the web severers. At the same time, a trolley crossbar in the WebCatcher system pushes the full width of the paper web on to a spinning catching roller, which guides the paper to the floor in front of the dryer. This prevents the web from wrapping around the blanket or the inking rollers.
The SoftWeb system, which has been positioned after the chill roll stand in each printing line, sprays finely and homogeneously atomised water on to the paper so that the moisture content returns to normal in the shortest possible time. The volume of water can be adapted to the paper type and press speed, while the spray zones can be switched on individually to suit the width of the web. The system helps to prevent moisture loss, which could result in web shrinkage or warping, and overcomes potential problems in the folder caused by static. In addition, the SoftWeb equipment makes sure that the folded products delivered in the shingle stream are as smooth and uniform as possible.
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EDITOR'S NOTES
About Baldwin
Baldwin Technology Company, Inc. is a leading international manufacturer of press accessory and controls for the commercial and newspaper printing industries. Baldwin supplies market-leading automated cleaning; dampening and temperature control; drying and curing, and web accessory technologies, products and systems.
With headquarters in Shelton, Connecticut, USA, Baldwin has operations strategically located in the major print markets and distributes its products via a global sales and service infrastructure. Baldwin was established in 1918. Since 1987, Baldwin Technology Company, Inc. has been listed on the American Stock Exchange.
For further information, visit the Baldwin website at: www.baldwintech.com
Issued on behalf of:
Baldwin Technology Company, Inc.
Tel: +1 203 402 1000
Fax: +1 203 402 5500
by: AD Communications Ltd
Tel: +44 1372 464470
Fax: +44 1372 468626
Further information from:
Kurt Depner at Baldwin Germany GmbH
Tel: 00 49 8217942360
Email: depner@baldwin.de
Philip Paris/Greg Mills at AD Communications
Email: pparis@adcomms.co.uk
gmills@adcomms.co.uk
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