December 1, 2003 -- Two to three times a year MAN Roland invites the international trade audience to Offenbach for an update of information about applications, presslines or technologies. The technology forums are occasions for customers and prospective buyers from all continents to gather in Offenbach to tour the factory and printing plants, to attend symposiums and presentations of information by cooperating partners. While at the previous event, in April 2003, some 400 visitors witnessed the world premiere of the XXL format ROLAND 900, the forum this time focused on the competition for the most efficient production of commercial jobs. The turnout at the Technology Forum Long Perfectors & High-End Cover Enhancing testified to the increasing success of this event series by continued growth in the number of visitors. More than 600 printing experts were attracted to the event in mid-November 2003 - mainly from the United States, Asia and Europe - to attend presentations, a tour of a printing plant and numerous printing demonstrations for a close-up experience of technology by practical example. As before, premieres were reported: The ROLAND 700 is now available with coating and drying modules before the actual printing units. The first ROLAND 700 with twelve printing units (12/0-6/6) is producing at the Kriechbaumer printing company in Munich, where it was installed a few months ago. Advantages of the long perfectors Many advantages speak for the long perfectors on the basis of the ROLAND 700 model line: Double-diameter impression cylinders and exchangeable OptiPrint jackets enable perfect sheet guidance and virtually identical first- and second-side printing qualities on many different printing materials up to 0.6 mm thickness. Shorter delivery times and innovative ink/coating combinations are profit-producing arguments in marketing. More sensitive, thin substrates can be processed with greater reliability because they have to pass through the press only once. Variable configuration for complex inline applications Variably equipped long perfectors can be used also for complex inline enhancing applications. One example of this is a convertible eight-colour ROLAND 700 equipped with a coating unit with double drying modules before the actual printing units. The configuration allows the application of opaque white before colour printing with subsequent inline enhancing by double coating modules including double dryers. The variability of this machine is further increased by sheet reversal between the second and third printing units. Twelve-colour ROLAND 700 for Kriechbaumer Just why the new twelve-colour ROLAND 700 at the Kriechbaumer printing company in Munich is the ideal complementation of its machinery park - which includes two ten-colour and four- as well as two-colour presses of the same series - was explained by Technical Manager Raimund Hauser: "Production performances of 11,000 sheets per hour were standard only ten days after commissioning of the press. Six-over-six colour jobs need only between 25 and 40 minutes of makeready. The OptiPrint jackets enable printing quality that is virtually identical on both sides and satisfies even the most demanding customer." Highly in demand, above all, is the combination of four-colour printing with spot colours plus varnish. The main reasons for the investment in the twelve-colour machine: short job throughput time, saving personnel costs, low space requirement for semi-finished products and virtually no quality loss in comparison with straight printing presses. Three alternatives for efficient commercial production There was discussion of printing on medium-size ROLAND 700 six- and ten-colour presses as compared with producing in format 8 on the ROLAND 900 or with 16-page commercial web printing. It was found that the most advantageous type of production is not determined by cost per copy alone. Depending on character, page count, run length and delivery time, each of these alternatives has its strengths and particular applications. Three winners in the competition of production types The visitors had the opportunity to judge practical results from long perfectors during demonstrations of printing on eight-colour and ten-colour ROLAND 700 presses at the Zarbock printing company in Frankfurt. And at the Offenbach Graphic Center, they could observe ten-colour and six-colour ROLAND 700 machines proving their strength in fast, high-quality commercial work and cover production. Another high point was the printing demonstration of the ROLAND 900 in XXL format (1,300 x 1,850 mm). It provides great advantages in efficiency, particularly with 32- and 64-page commercials in medium-length and longer runs. Also under discussion were the advantages of commercial web offset with long and extremely long runs and especially high page counts.