Europe’s First Komori Lithrone SX40 for Benson Group

S. Mochida, Senior MD & COO, Komori Corporation, with M. Kerridge, MD, Benson Group

Europe’s first Komori Lithrone SX40 sheet fed press has been installed at Benson Group’s Integrated Packaging site in Gateshead. The 18,000 sheets per hour, 40 inch press is equipped with six print units and a coating unit capable of adding UV or water-based finishes. The new press will be used to produce food packaging product for Benson Group, the UK’s Packaging Company of the Year, and is expected to produce some 40 million sheets in its first year of production.

In addition to the £1.9 million LSX40 installation, Benson Group’s six existing North-East based Komori presses are all being upgraded with Komori’s K-Station, the Komori Management System (KMS), and Print Density Control (PDC) spectrophotometer. The upgrades are expected to increase the throughput of these existing presses – all six-colour with coater (one with double coater) – by as much as 5 million sheets per year, per press. These existing presses are split equally between Benson Group’s Gateshead and Newcastle factories.

Commenting on the new addition, and the need for the enhancements to existing machinery, Mark Kerridge, Managing Director of Benson Group, said: “Expanding the printing capacity of our North East facilities was an essential ingredient for our continued growth plan. We examined all of the leading press suppliers’ products at Drupa last year, and were certainly impressed by the developments that had been made, especially in terms of makeready. Whilst we have added new Heidelberg equipment to our Bardon site, we felt that it made sense to stay with Komori for the North East. The new LSX 40 is an extremely impressive product. This new print capability coupled with the upgrades to our existing machinery provides a significant expansion of printing capacity within the group should ensure that we are able to cope with the additional carton business that we expect to win over the coming year.”

“To have secured the first European installation of the flagship Lithrone LSX 40 within the Benson Group is very pleasing,” said Steve Turner, General Sales Manager, Sheetfed presses, Komori UK. “This powerful press is packed with features such as the new Fully Automatic Plate Mounting System, PDCS II closed loop colour management system and the unique Komori KHS-AI Advanced Intelligence, self-learning pre-inking system which ensures the job is ready for production after very few makeready sheets.

“These features combine to create a press which offers the fastest ever Komori makeready, fastest running speed, and importantly, as there is so little waste substrate the environmental impact is much reduced, especially as it can also run alcohol free.

“The Benson Group is already a major user of Komori Lithrone LS40 technology.  As the business continues to grow and prosper, this latest generation LSX machine will enable this dynamic company to greatly increase its production capacity in the North East.”

About Benson Group

Benson Group, the Packaging Company of the Year for 2008, is the UK’s leading privately owned printed carton supplier, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Headquarters are in Bardon, Leicestershire, where the company owns 130,000 sq ft of production and warehouse space. Benson Group achieves annual sales in excess of £93 million. Food manufacturers are the main customers at Bardon and for the company’s two North East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead. These two sites have a combined total of 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space. The fourth site in Crewe, Medica Packaging, serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. It has 73,000 sq ft of manufacturing, warehouse and office space. Since 2000, investment in new plant and equipment across the four sites totals in excess of £25 million. The company recently announced details of the acquisition of various trading assets of Glasgow-based packaging company Cameron Linn.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include GlaxoSmithKline, Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Bakkavör, Samworth Brothers, and leading supermarket chains.

For further information on the Benson Group visit the www.bensongroup.co.uk web site.

For further information on Komori UK call 0113 224 6342.

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First Ryobi 524GE Installed at PrintWorks

Paul Johnson with the Ryobi 524GE

PrintWorks (North) Ltd, Wetherby, has announced the installation of its first four-colour litho press and the UK’s first Ryobi 524GE. Alongside the press is a DPX polyester-based computer-to-plate system. The package was purchased from Apex Digital Graphics, the UK’s official Ryobi distributor.

The new purchase replaces two aging single colour presses – an SRA2-format Oliver and a B3-format Heidelberg GTO, one 17 and one 12 years old. “They had been great machines for us,” said PrintWorks (North) Managing Director Paul Johnson. “Along with two Ryobi 3200 machines, they had been the backbone of our business from day one. Of course, commercial print has changed quite a lot in that time, and now the majority of customers are asking for four colour print. We had been farming such requests out, but this had reached close to £90,000 worth of work in the last year, and so 12 months ago we took the decision to move into four-colour production ourselves.

“In taking that decision, we also decided that we did not have to lock ourselves into offset-litho production, so we looked at everything. We examined low and high level digital production, from the likes of Xerox and HP, and we looked closely at the DI option. Digital still wasn’t flexible enough to handle the full range of the work that we produce, which left us with traditional litho and DI.

“Putting both to the test, the DI handled three days worth of our typical work in just one working day – which was impressive. However, the Ryobi and separate CtP solution handled the same three days work in just four hours! Decision made!”

Paul Johnson concedes that maybe this is a move that the company could have made three or four years ago. “I have to say that we have been both surprised and delighted with the performance of the products in just the first few weeks of production. One typical job for us – a pharmaceutical case study – required us to produce 140 plates. The DPX ran through plate production in no time at all – in fact we now leave it producing plates for this kind of work overnight. On press, the changeover time between plates is extremely quick, and, for four-colour work, the fit is almost spot on as soon as you put the plates on.

“One recent job – something that we would have sent out prior to the arrival of the Ryobi 524GE – just showed its capabilities: it was four-back-four, including tints, solids and 300 line screen high quality images. The press handled everything superbly.”

The company is now receiving more and more four-colour printing enquiries from existing customers. In its first month of operation the press has produced 40% new business.

Due to its continued use of Ryobi presses, the company had known Apex Digital Graphics for many years. “We already had a good working relationship with Apex,” said Paul Johnson. “But they have been excellent throughout the purchase and installation cycle with this press and CtP package. I really can’t fault them.”

Ryobi’s recently introduced 520GE series is equipped with a high level of automation and a wealth of quality, productivity and environmental features. The Ryobi 520GE series is at the cutting edge of B3 offset for 2, 4 and 5-colour print production, and is also highly compact, offering 40% space savings over equivalent models from other suppliers. The printing units consist of a double-diameter impression cylinder and a double-diameter transfer drum.

Big-press features include semi-automatic plate changing, allowing plates to be changed quickly and accurately. The operator merely sets the plate on the positioning pins and presses the button. Ryobi’s program inking system automatically supplies ink to ink rollers to match the image from the start of printing. After a pre-set number of prints have been produced the ink on the rollers is automatically restored to an even state, ready for the next job.

Thirteen-year-old PrintWorks (North), which employs a team of ten at its Wetherby premises, and anticipates a turnover this year of close to £1 million, provides a full design and print production service, including in-house graphic and web design, pre-press studio, and print finishing. The company produces a wide range of commercial print for customers both in the local area and across the UK.

For further information on PrintWorks (North) Ltd call 01937 585 575.

Apex Digital Graphics – The Solutions Provider

Apex Digital Graphics Limited is a specialist in the supply and service of pre-press and press equipment. Apex is the official UK distributor of Ryobi presses, the Screen Micra 55 metal plate system, the ECRM range of polyester platemaking units, and a range of B2-format computer-to-plate products. The company offer national service coverage, and a one-stop shop for print consumables featuring next day delivery. Apex Digital Graphics can be contacted on 01442 235 236 or via the www.apexdigital.co.uk web site.

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New, Innovative Reflections Web Site

One of the Optix 3D samples from the new Reflections.co.uk site

Reflections, the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, has announced details regarding the latest version of its web site, which can be found at www.reflections.co.uk

The new build incorporates an extensive section called “Finishes” in which fold patterns and designs are illustrated in great detail, including the use of folding animations to show how particular print finishing operations work in practice.

On-line galleries are also included to show a number of recently released products in action, such as the 3D print product Optix, MircoMotion, and Designer UV.

Commenting on the latest update to the site, Luke Hastings, joint managing director of Reflections, said: “Web sites are often too static, and therefore don’t really inform the reader as much as they could. We have been able to incorporate a range of exciting techniques to help illustrate many of our leading edge finishes, and help explain what they can do for a designer, a printer, or an end-user. Even the simple folding routines help to bring finishing to life, and will help to inform. I am pleased that we have managed to squeeze so much information onto the site, and we will be delighted to receive feedback from visitors. The development, however, doesn’t stop here. A web site is always “work in progress”, and the Reflections site will continue to evolve, using the latest techniques to help illustrate our business.”

About Reflections

Reflections the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, with three production centres in London, Essex and Kent. The services provided by Reflections to the print trade include: laminating, overall UV varnishing, spot UV, foil blocking, die-cutting and creasing along with many other more specialised effects.

The wide range of speciality finishes available from Reflections is exampled by MicroMotion, a unique screen printing process that provides colour shifts and subtle sparkling of the image when the final print is angled by the viewer. Suitable for application to virtually any stock, MicroMotion is just one of the patented special finishes available from Reflections.

The company provides the highest level of quality alongside a fast and reliable service to meet the needs of today’s modern print environment.

For further views of Reflections visit the www.reflections.co.uk web site, or call 0208 305 6333.

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Starpack 2009 Award for Benson Group

Benson Group, based in Bardon, Leicestershire, the Packaging Company of the Year for 2008, has been recognised with a 2009 Starpack Award within the Technical Developments section for its work on a carton for supermarket chain Morrisons.

The winning packaging product was created for a Morrisons Berry Pannacotta from the supermarket’s “The Best” range. The carton exhibits a matt and hi-gloss effect, which is produced from a single pass on the press.

The technical development incorporates a high-surfactant loaded primer which is printed onto the board, leaving out (reversing out) those areas to that are to appear gloss. A special hi-gloss coater varnish is then applied all over the sheet. This reacts with the primer to give a matt effect, but stays gloss where there is no primer.

The key benefit of this technique is that the hi-gloss varnish would normally be applied via a flexo plate, limiting the detail that can be incorporated. Utilising this new technique the detail is affected via the litho plate, ie, the reversed out areas of that plate. That means that the finest of detail can be utilised within the pack design.

About Benson Group

Benson Group, the Packaging Company of the Year for 2008, is the UK’s leading privately owned printed carton supplier, producing packaging product for both the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Headquarters are in Bardon, Leicestershire, where the company owns 130,000 sq ft of production and warehouse space. Benson Group achieves annual sales in excess of £93 million. Food manufacturers are the main customers at Bardon and for the company’s two North East facilities in Newcastle and Gateshead. These two sites have a combined total of 200,000 sq ft of manufacturing and warehouse space. The fourth site in Crewe, Medica Packaging, serves pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. It has 73,000 sq ft of manufacturing, warehouse and office space. Since 2000, investment in new plant and equipment across the four sites totals in excess of £25 million. The company recently announced details of the acquisition of various trading assets of Glasgow-based packaging company Cameron Linn.

Benson Group creates packaging for many well-known companies, brands and retailers. Key account clients across the Group include GlaxoSmithKline, Northern Foods, Reckitt Benkiser, Greencore, Bakkavör, Samworth Brothers, and leading supermarket chains.

For further information on the Benson Group visit the www.bensongroup.co.uk web site.

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Open House to Celebrate Apex 20th Anniversary

Apex Celebrates 20 Years

Apex Digital Graphics, the UK’s official Ryobi distributor, is celebrating its 20^th anniversary as a business and the 35^th anniversary of Ryobi presses arriving in the UK with an open house event at its Hemel Hempstead headquarters on November 4^th and 5^th.

The event will be used as a launch for the recently announced Ryobi 525GE B3-format offset press. This compact yet highly automated five-colour press not only offers a 40% saving on space taken when compared to other leading five unit B3 configurations, but also offers the lowest power consumption in its class. A numbering and perforating unit can also be added if required.

“The open house offers us a tremendous opportunity for us to introduce printers to this latest five-colour press,” said Bernard Parker, joint managing director of Apex Digital Graphics. “We believe that the time is just right. As it is from the GE Series of Ryobi presses, the machine is competitively priced; the low power consumption provides not only cost savings, but also illustrates the press’s green credentials; and the compact nature of the press means that businesses do not necessarily need to move the larger premises just to move into five-colour printing. We already have installations of the two and four colour GE models, so the 525GE compliments the range perfectly”.

The 35^th anniversary of Ryobi’s arrival in the UK will be celebrated by Apex with the inclusion of the 525GX B3-format press – the alternative five-colour machine from Ryobi’s flagship B3 range; the Ryobi 784 compact B2-format press; and the Ryobi 755 plus coater version of the award winning B2-plus format range.

“We are delighted to be able to celebrate our 20^th anniversary in conjunction with Ryobi’s 35^th year in the UK,” said Bob Usher, company founder and joint managing director. “Whilst it has certainly been a tough trading year for us and many of our customers, we felt that we had to mark these anniversaries in some way. Staging an open house represents a good business reason to gather some of our friends and associates from the past twenty years in order to thank them for their assistance, and perhaps toast “some light at the end of the tunnel” as far as the recession is concerned!”

Pre-press equipment on show from Apex Digital Graphics will include the DPX2 polyester-based platemaker from ECRM and the Screen PlateRite 4300 fully automatic B2+ metal thermal platesetter, running Fujifilm processless plates.

Friends and business partners of Apex will also be exhibiting a range of solutions, including finishing equipment from Morgana; MIS from Tharstern; Konica Minoltaand Sharp digital copier equipment from Danwood; Technotrans water management systems; PCO printing chemicals; Creo workflow; Sun Chemical printing inks; Baldwin drying systems; IDS mail sort software; and DirectSmile image personalisation.

New Appointment at Finishing Specialist Reflections

Reflections, the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, has announced the appointment of Colin Kirven to the position of Customer Services Manager at the company’s Basildon, Essex site.

Colin had been working most recently at rival finishing specialist Best Cover. This new appointment follows the closure of the Best Cover London site. Prior to this, Colin had been working in Customer Services for Hendy Banks since 2001, and has been involved in the industry for over 30 years.

Commenting on the appointment, Luke Hastings, joint managing director of Reflections, said: “Colin is a welcome addition to the team. He has an excellent knowledge of the fast paced print environment, he understands print, and he understands customer care. People of his experience and knowledge don’t come along that often.”

Colin spent his early industry years in in-plant print operations in the City, including both financial and transport based operations. With regard to this new appointment, he said: “I am delighted to be working with the team at Reflections. This company has a tremendous range of finishing services to offer its customers, and is keen to continually innovate new solutions. It feels good to be involved with a company that is moving forwards.”

About Reflections

Reflections the largest speciality print finisher in the south of England, with three production centres in London, Essex and Kent. The services provided by Reflections to the print trade include: laminating, overall UV varnishing, spot UV, foil blocking, die-cutting and creasing along with many other more specialised effects.

The wide range of speciality finishes available from Reflections is exampled by MicroMotion, a unique screen printing process that provides colour shifts and subtle sparkling of the image when the final print is angled by the viewer. Suitable for application to virtually any stock, MicroMotion is just one of the patented special finishes available from Reflections.

The company provides the highest level of quality alongside a fast and reliable service to meet the needs of today’s modern print environment.

For further views of Reflections visit the www.reflections.co.uk web site, or call 0208 305 6333.

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New Premises for Marlowe Graphic Services

New Premises for Marlowe

Marlowe Graphic Services Ltd (MGS) has unveiled details of a move to larger, modern new offices in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire. The company had previously been located in Hockcliffe, near Leighton Buzzard.

The new offices provide the company with more space, which will incorporate showroom facilities, as well as storage for spare parts, and office space. The Kings Langley location offers easy access to both the M25 and M1.

The full address of the new facility is: 20 Abbots Business Park, Primrose Hill, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire WD4 8FR. “Sat-nav” worshippers should appreciate that this is a new address, and therefore a new post code, which may well provide inaccurate travel instructions at this point in time!

Darren Eliot, Managing Director of Marlowe Graphic Services, said: “This move helps to emphasise the expansion that we have been undergoing as a business this year. Whilst to many that might seem an unusual statement, given the tough trading conditions being experienced in 2009, Marlowe Graphic Services – with a core business of service and maintenance of pre-press equipment – has been thriving.

“A lot of pre-press departments are not in a position to invest in new equipment right now, and that is good news for Marlowe Graphic Services. We are helping to extend the life of existing equipment with both regular maintenance and low-cost system enhancements.”

The new build offices, located on the recently created Abbotts Business Park, will allow the company to create a pre-press showroom, showcasing many of the products it offers, including new platesetters, RIP’s, workflow solutions, and other equipment.

Sales Director Andy Hemmings adds: “We didn’t have sufficient space at our previous building to offer proper demonstrations on-site, so this move will be a great help with regard to equipment sales.

“Location is also critical to both the service and sales operations, and Kings Langley offers a great position with regard to the motorway network.”

About the Marlowe Graphic Services

Marlowe Graphic Services are the UK’s premier independent pre-press specialist, providing service, parts and technical support for a wide range of graphic arts equipment. The company’s service offering is unique in that not only does it supply, integrated and service third-party equipment but it also has its own team of in-house software and hardware specialists, which means that if a solution doesn’t exist MGS will simply make it!

Customers range from multi-national magazine and newspaper publishers, to fine-art printers, book printers and general commercial print suppliers. In short, print businesses of all shapes and sizes, being looked after by MGS’s team of factory-trained engineers, covering the whole of the UK.

The MGS web site has been designed to complement the range of individual services that the company currently offers, all uniquely supported by MGS’s own staff. Customers like the MGS approach, as they are not making important purchasing decisions via a faceless computer, or even worse, an overseas call centre. They know that if they are stuck MGS has the means to “un-stick” them.

For further information on Marlowe Graphic Services visit the www.marlowe.co.uk web site, or call 0870 777 0920.

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StudioRIP Hails PRINT 09 Show Significant Success

Whilst the true scale of orders will certainly not be known for many months to come, one of the few British companies exhibiting in its own right at PRINT 09 in Chicago, StudioRIP UK Ltd, has heralded the event a significant success for the business.

Commenting on the show, Andy Hemmings, Sales Director for StudioRIP, said: “We were absolutely delighted with the people that we met during PRINT 09, and see the investment in our own stand was certainly money very well spent. It’s impossible to gauge at this stage exactly how many orders will be forthcoming, but we have made some excellent contacts, and have set up some potentially valuable meetings over coming weeks, where we hope to finalise a number of significant contracts.

“Our objectives were to meet up with potential dealers, distributors, and OEM partners, and from that perspective the show was a great success for us. It has to be said that there were limited numbers of end-users in attendance, and certainly some exhibitors were very disappointed with the show.”

Further details on distributor and OEM partnership arrangements are still under discussion at this point in time, but the company says that further news is anticipated in the near future. The company hopes to finalise a master distribution agreement for North America in the coming weeks.

“We were extremely busy with product demonstrations of StudioRIP,” adds Andy Hemmings. “On one day in particular we were still demonstrating when the lights were turned off at the end of business!”

About StudioRIP

StudioRIP is a software RIP compatible with PostScript Level 3 and PDF 1.6, and is designed for high performance imaging tasks, making it suitable for interfacing to a wide range of computer-to-plate systems, imagesetters, inkjet and laser printers.

Pre-press experts who would like to examine and test the performance and features of StudioRIP can download a free “demo” system of Version 3.0 by visiting the www.studiorip.co.uk web site.

One of the most exciting and unique features of the product is that it can be configured around a user’s needs, with the optional inclusion of post-RIP imposition, in-RIP trapping, ink duct control software, second order stochastic screening (hybrid AM screening included as standard), TIFF output, multiple print engine output, and digital proofing output. StudioRIP Client software can provide for remote operation of all RIP functions from any PC or Mac workstation.

StudioRIP 3.0 also includes a flexographic option, which is capable of providing 37.5 degree angles, flexo dot, dot gain, and dispro compensations. The software also provides a seamless option for flexographic plate production.

Why Does the World Need Another RIP?

Originally designed as a low cost solution to meet the needs of the second-hand imagesetter market, StudioRIP has grown to become a highly suitable alternative to mainstream RIP products for most output requirements, including computer-to-plate, all formats of imagesetter, inkjet and laser printers. Still a cost effective product, StudioRIP also offers highly productive throughput comparable with all of the competition.

One significant advantage offered by StudioRIP over the majority of competing software RIP products is the ability to include many workflow operations within the RIP architecture. Functions such as imposition and trapping can be included within StudioRIP, rather than users having to purchase separate software packages, usually at significant extra cost. StudioRIP is also “flexo friendly” with flexographic screening, distortion, and imposition features optionally available.

StudioRIP’s “Smart Screening” offers customers the very latest in hybrid screening techniques – again, without the need to buy highly priced “extra’s”. Features of the AM screening package include user selectable screen angles, and smooth gradients via the combination of 4,096 shades of grey and low pass filtering.

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LED-UV Curing System Wins Award for Ryobi

The Award is Presented

Ryobi’s innovative LED-UV curing system, which made its debut in B3-format at Drupa last year and enjoyed its first B2 appearance at the recent PRINT 09 event in Chicago, has been awarded with the Nippon (Japan) Brand Prize at the 39^th Machine Design Award competition.

Ryobi is the first printing press manufacturer to put LED-UV curing to practical use, and is delighted to accept this award for its efforts.

The LED-UV curing unit replaces conventional UV lamps with long-life UV light-emitting diodes (LED’s), cutting power consumption by at least 70%. Drying times are shortened, speeding up job completion, whilst the light source should last as much as 15 times longer than conventional lamps. The system generates minimal heat and no ozone, providing a real environmental plus, and eliminating the need for exhaust equipment to handle both heat and ozone.

The LED-UV unit is available for the two-up Ryobi 520 Series press, the B-2+ format 750 Series, and the eight-up Ryobi 920 Series press.

This breakthrough technology is viewed by many as the most significant advancement in UV technology for 30 years. Light emitting diodes (LED’s) are extremely efficient. Instead of using electricity to heat up a metal filament, LED’s produce light by channelling an electric current through a semiconductor material. The result: close to 100% of the electricity is converted into light with virtually no waste heat generation.

The Machine Design Award competition is sponsored by the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun newspaper and is supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). The Awards were established in 1970 to promote and develop industrial product design.

Apex Digital Graphics

Apex Digital Graphics Limited is a specialist in the supply and service of pre-press and press equipment. Apex is the official UK distributor of Ryobi presses, the Screen Micra 55 metal plate system, the ECRM range of polyester platemaking units, and a range of B2-format computer-to-plate products. The company offer national service coverage, and a one-stop shop for print consumables featuring next day delivery. Apex Digital Graphics can be contacted on 01442 235 236 or via the www.apexdigital.co.uk web site.

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