Page 38 - Print21 Magazine March April 2021

Offset Revolution
Revolution
(overall equipment effectiveness). The presses are not only equipped
with a newly designed control centre. They have further new Heidelberg performance-enhancing Intelligent systems, New Intellistart 3. This is the third generation of the patented digital makeready assistant on the press control station and will be available to all new 2020 generation Speedmaster presses. New Intelliguide will reduce the makeready sequence
of the next print job in the job queue by providing real-time information on the press status, thus cutting makeready steps.
With the new PressCenter Mobile and Maintenance apps, operators
and supervisors can access important production information such as the current job status, the job queue with
a snapshot of the makeready process, as well as the status of the required consumables. This can be done for all connected machines on a tablet or a smartphone. With the Maintenance app, all machine-related service data, manuals and technical information can be accessed.
Mystakidis says, “Through
the Heidelberg Prinect Cloud, we
have completed the digital process integration of the Speedmaster. We
will utilise the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to further improve performance through intelligent self- learning assistants, such as Wash Assist and Air Assist, allowing for automated presetting of the press based on stored job-specific data.”
Guides the operator
With Navigated Printing, the system guides the operator during the entire makeready and production phases, comparable with a high-end navigation system in a car.
Mystakidis says, “While we
see many printers running their Speedmaster with high productivity already today, there is still potential to further improve performance by using AI in our new press models which helps the operator to avoid mistakes and saves valuable time and paper waste. The key to this is the new Heidelberg UX user experience.”
With labour and skills becoming
an increasing challenge on a global level, Heidelberg decided to focus on minimising the process and operator- dependent losses, and Heidelberg says a breakthrough has been achieved with the new press generation.
With many intelligent assistance systems on the Speedmaster 2020 Generation, the press operator is relieved of cumbersome work.
The complexity of all processes
is greatly reduced, transparency increased, and right decisions made on the spot. Mystakidis says, “We call this navigated printing.”
Heidelberg is not alone in marrying print technology with digital control. Komori presses, supplied here by Print & Pack, have also been integrating the benefits
of both. Nathan Broughton, sales exec for Komori at Print & Pack says, “Offering an integrated solution in
its Advance model, Komori provides strengthened collaboration with KP-Connect solution cloud, which enables the smart factory, integrating MIS, prepress and postpress, and
was developed based on Komori's Connected Automation concept.
“This realises strengthened collaboration and optimisation
in Offset
Offset press manufacturers are working in overdrive to enable their presses to be connected, integrated, and hyper- productive. Print21 looks at the latest developments.
Print shops are facing increasing challenges of shorter run lengths, faster turnaround times, increasing costs,
competition for talent, and declining print prices. Therefore, it’s more important than ever that they optimise every aspect of their production to stay competitive and profitable.
Savas Mystakidis, managing director at Heidelberg ANZ says, “Heidelberg’s revolution in offset starts with its Prinect workflow, which embraces the tenets of Industry 4.0 – higher productivity and data-driven automation – that allows our customers to stay ahead and benefit from a digitised world.”
According to Mystakidis, the
first part of the solution is a smart printing press that is capable of organising and producing print jobs independently. “We call this Push
to Stop’, however, this innovative production standard goes beyond the printing press,” he says. “To unfold the full potential of the smart print shop, the underlying workflow must also be considered.”
Heidelberg’s solution lies in intelligent systems that control the harmonious interaction of six key factors; integrate customers, reduce touchpoints, increase productivity and operating time, reduce paper waste and warehousing, optimise consistency and reproducibility, and business intelligence.
Mystakidis says, “We will now evolve into the next level of Push
to Stop with the introduction of a brand new UX (user experience), a new Prinect Press center XL3, and Intellistart 3 operating system. The aim is to further reduce complexity, simplify the operation of your press, and allow for further enhancement to the overall output capability of the equipment by raising the bar for OEE
38 Print21 MARCH/APRIL 2021
Integrated solution: Today’s sheetfed offset press