Heidelberg Hosts Speedmaster SX 52 Anicolor Open House At Prakash Offset, Mangalore

Heidelberg India hosted an open house on June 21, 2014 showcasing the country’s first Speedmaster SX 52 Anicolor press installed at Prakash Offset, Mangalore. The one-day open house witnessed enthusiastic participation from 25 commercial and digital printers across the country. The event included live machine demos, site visits to Prakash Offset’s unit two in Baikampady Industrial Area and technical presentations from Heidelberg’s knowledge experts. Heidelberg’s relationship with Prakash Offset spans over two decades, ever since the print shop installed its first Heidelberg machine in 1983. Today, the firm houses eight Heidelberg presses, including the latest feather in its cap – the Speedmaster SX 52 Anicolor – which was added in early 2014.

Under the guidance of Saseendran Baskaran, Heidelberg’s product manager – press solutions, Prakash Offset’s operator printed five jobs in thirty-five minutes. This included make-ready and changeover times. Interestingly, each job varied from the other in terms of artwork, paper density and type of substrate used. A variety of substrates were used, including 170 GSM art paper, 300 GSM art card, 250 GSM Natural Evolution paper and 300 GSM textured paper. Despite that, the changeover time was less than seven minutes, even for jobs with heavy ink coverage.

Prakash Offset’s PR Nayak appreciated the commitment and dedicated support from the Heidelberg India team led by general manager, Peter Rego. On the recent Anicolor installation, Anand Prabhu, Nayak’s nephew and a partner at the firm, said, “With short makeready times and quick job execution, the new press would help the company to compete with digital printers. Installed earlier this year, the press has worked well, completing high quality short-run print jobs quickly and efficiently.

The Speedmaster SX 52 Anicolor is well-positioned to handle short-run print jobs, starting from as low as 100 sheets onwards. “In a shift of eight hours, the press delivers more than 40 jobs, irrespective of sheet size or substrate. That is incredible”, Anand Prabhu added with a smile. This is possible because of the Anicolor inking unit, which is a short zoneless inking unit with a dampening system that facilitates quick and even inking. No tedious inking adjustments are required with the Anicolor, as it is extremely easy to operate.

Elaborating on the Anicolor technology, Udo Fiebiger, regional business manager, Heidelberg Asia Pacific, stated, “Lot of thinking has gone into the Anilox inking system, which is why it uses a chamber doctor blade instead of a conventional roller train. The Anilox applies a metered, exact amount of ink on every revolution.” Ashokan Krishnamoorthy, product manager – prepress solutions, explained the 90:50:50 operating philosophy of Anicolor technology, “Anicolor reduces paper wastage by 90 percent compared to machines with conventional inking units. This means 90 percent less make-ready sheets. The anilox inking system eliminates the need to adjust the ink keys to match colours, implying 50 percent shorter makeready times. The above two features combined, enhance productivity by 50 percent or simply means five jobs printed within 35 minutes, as seen during the demo at Prakash offset.”

In his presentation, Saseendran gave emphasis to the Return on Investment (ROI) competitive edge of the Anicolor press in terms of time-saved and performance. On a final note, Indukalpa Saikia, product manager – postpress solutions, highlighted Heidelberg’s finishing solutions for short-run print products.