Tower Clean provides an efficient low cost blanket clean at Edda Trykk
7/6/2007
Tower Clean provides an efficient low cost blanket clean at Edda Trykk
Norwegian newspaper printer, Edda Trykk, reports that Baldwin Technology’s Tower Clean system, recently fitted to an MAN Cromoman 70 press at the company’s Ålesund plant, has dramatically improved productivity by allowing blankets to be cleaned automatically within a few minutes. The task was previously carried out manually and normally took four operators more than an hour to perform. Over the period of a week, Tower Clean saves Edda Trykk between 12 - 18 operator hours and reduces press downtime by up to four hours.
Tower Clean is a low cost automatic blanket cleaning system that can be installed or retrofitted on single width presses. The equipment consists of a solvent applicator per tower, brush units and pumping station. Tower Clean enables the blanket to be cleaned by contact with the moving web once the small profile applicator has applied a low VOC solvent to the paper. As the web reaches the blanket the brush unit, which is frequently installed only on the first-down blanket, is activated. This removes lint and ink. In addition, the Tower Clean process has a positive cleaning effect on the guide rollers.
Tower Clean has generated a great deal of interest amongst European newspaper printers. Baldwin has installations or orders for the system to be fitted to presses from several major press manufacturers. The low investment cost, improved print quality and extended print cycle result in a short payback period, while the simplicity of Tower Clean ensures a very low cost of ownership. There are few moving parts so service requirements and maintenance are straightforward. The system at Edda Trykk consists of eight applicators and 32 brushes.
“The installation was carried out over several mornings, while the press is not in operation, and so did not interrupt production,” says Jacky Merieau, production manager at the Ålesund plant. “The system has not been used long enough to calculate material waste reductions, but the savings intime are significant. A thorough clean of all blankets is generally achieved in less than 300 copies.
“The eight-tower MAN Cromoman 70 was commissioned last summer and we always intended to equip it with automatic blanket cleaning. What we ideally wanted was an inexpensive but effective method of controlling debris on the blankets so that we could ensure maximum productivity. This is what we have achieved with Baldwin’s Tower Clean system. We’ve actually been very pleasantly surprised at just how effective it is at cleaning – the press operators are certainly happy and that’s always a sure sign of a product that is doing what you want it to!”
Peter Hultberg is managing director of Baldwin Jimek, the company's centre of competence for the newspaper sector. “We believe that the launch of Tower Clean is of major importance to the industry, because it provides single width printers with a unique opportunity to benefit from automatic blanket cleaning but for a low investment,” he says. “Web offset and newspaper printers face the common challenges of striving for ever greater efficiency and productivity from their presses while also meeting tighter deadlines and environmentally related pressures.
“Removing the manual element of blanket cleaning is well recognised as a way of achieving the above, but not every printer or publisher can afford the investment in highly sophisticated systems. Tower Clean is the alternative. It’s a tremendously exciting product and we anticipate a high take up from the market, both on existing and new presses.”
Edda Trykk, which is part of the Mecom Group, is one of Norway’s leading newspaper houses, producing a wide range of titles including, Drammens Tidende, Haugesund avis, Sumørsposten and Tønsbergs Blad. The company is a long standing customer of Baldwin, with more than 300 Baldwin World and Maxima spray bars in operation on the newspaper presses at its five Norwegian sites. The company says the excellent support it has received over the years is one of the main reasons it has gone back to Baldwin for this latest purchase.
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