Baldwin’s ‘Constant C’ Technology Has ROI of Only Two Weeks at Al Jazirah Newspaper
8/1/2008
Retrofitting Baldwin’s Constant C system to an existing LithoSpray World dampening system at Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Jazirah had such a huge impact on productivity that the company says the return on investment was only two weeks. The Baldwin spray dampening equipment has been in use on an eight-tower, combination heatset/cold set Goss Universal 50 press for eight years.
“Baldwin’s LithoSpray World dampening equipment provides first class quality and performance but like all spray dampening systems the nozzles tend to become blocked during use because of dirt, ink fly and other debris,” says press manager Nabil Sahl. “The spray pattern, and consequent print quality, was affected even if only one or two nozzles became blocked and there are 256 on our Goss Universal 50. This meant that we normally had to stop the press once or twice a day in order to unblock a nozzle.
“With the cost of newsprint about 50 per cent higher in Saudi Arabia than in mainland Europe, the degree of wastage we were encountering because of press restarts was significant. The answer came in the form of Baldwin’s Constant C technology, which has proved to be highly effective at keeping the nozzles on the spray dampening system clear. Retrofitting the system was very straightforward and it has been extremely reliable with virtually no maintenance required.”
Baldwin’s unique Constant C technology eliminates the problem of plugged or blocked nozzles on spray dampening systems by providing an air curtain around nozzle tips, which keeps ink mist and debris away. With this feature nozzles perform at the same high quality level at all times, ensuring a consistently even spray pattern. Constant C comes as standard on Maxima spray dampening systems and can be easily retrofitted to existing World and Optima spray bars as part of Baldwin’s on-going customer upgrade programme.
”The Constant C technology has performed beyond our expectations,” says Nabil Sahl. “The flexibility of the system meant that we were able to trial the equipment on one Goss tower before installing it on the other units. Commissioning of the system went well on each occasion.
“We print the daily Al Jazirah during the night shift and because the Goss Universal 50 incorporates heatset towers we are also able to print magazine supplements during the day time for insertion into the newspaper. We are now speaking to Baldwin about its WebCatcher unit, which will eliminate potential damage to press parts caused by web breaks.”
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