Miami Beach, Florida — A key member of MAN Roland’s family of digital printing solutions, and the press maker’s PECOM command and control system will be demonstrating their productive capabilities at Graphics of the Americas 2002. The innovations will be joined by the MAN Roland 500, the company’s new 29-inch packaging press. MAN Roland’s DICOpress provides high performance computer-to-press capabilities at a very affordable price, giving printers a cost-effective way to handle on-demand, variable data and short-run color projects. The system runs at the rate of 138 letter size impressions per minute. That equates to the production of 8,280 pages per hour — a speed that leads this digital color category. DICOpress is available in both 12 1/2" and 20" web widths, and features variable cutoffs to produce a wide variety of printed products. Simulated demonstrations of MAN Roland‘s PECOM system will also take center stage at Graphics of the Americas. The acronym stands for Process Electronic Control, Organization and Management. And as the name indicates, PECOM goes beyond control of press operations to organize the pressroom’s workflow, while connecting the management function to the pulse of the printing plant. A JobPilot module lets operators set job parameters off-press, so the pressroom can keep producing, while the specifications of the next job are keyed in. PECOM also incorporates PrepressLink, which digitally connects the pressroom to the prepress suite, via the CIP3 protocol. Also appearing at Graphics of the Americas will be a special printing unit from the Roland 500 packaging press, featuring an open view that will let showgoers see the inner operation of the system. The newest sheetfed press from MAN Roland, the 500 equips printers to deliver Just-In-Time (JIT) efficiencies, while accommodating the shorter runs required by customers who are increasingly customizing and versioning their packaging. The Roland 500 can produce 18,000 sheets per hour, thanks to its flatter sheet-transfer design. Another productivity plus: The package printing press shares the paper-saving 23-1/4 x 29-1/8 inch format of its sister system, the Roland 300. Designed to accommodate stock thicknesses of 0.004 to 0.04 inches, while producing high-end results, the 500 incorporates a variety of quality innovations. Its printing units have double size impression cylinders and transferters for expert handling of heavier substrates. It also features MAN Roland’s Deltamatic dampening unit and AirGlide delivery. PECOM press control and networking streamlines operation, while the available JobPilot system delivers offline makereadies that save 10 minutes on every project. The MAN Roland innovations will appear in booth #741 at the exposition, which is being held in the Miami Convention Center, February 1-3.