Ottawa, Ontario — Dollco Printing, one of Canada’s largest privately-owned commercial facilities, has further expanded its capabilities by adding two new ROLAND 700 presses — a ten-color and a five-color — to its extensive array of sheetfed, heatset web and coldset web presses. Integrated into the installation are several in-line advancements including an in-line sheeter, perfecting and in-line coating. Dollco derives its name from The Dominion Loose Leaf Company, a 1918 firm from which the printer grew. While loose leaf is no longer a part of the Dollco story, virtually anything else is. The company, with 300 employees and $50 million in annual sales, describes itself as a full service facility, providing everything from data management right through to mailing. “One of the things that sets us apart from other printers is the caliber of our work,” says Kevin Nicholds, co-president of the company. “Dollco is a high-quality provider of high-end publications, catalogs, direct mail and commercial printing.” The facility backs up its quality credentials by utilizing stochastic screening on every job — both web and sheetfed. Creo’s Staccato drives that process, but the latest technological breakthrough at Dollco can be found in its pressroom, with the two new 41-inch ROLAND 700s. “We run a variety of different presses,” Nicholds says. “But in researching the best available new technology, we found that MAN Roland was well ahead. So we had a lot of confidence in MAN Roland service, technology and print quality going in. And we have not been disappointed.” Perfecting More, Spending Less Thanks to OptiPrint jackets and other MAN Roland sheet flow advancements, Dollco doesn’t have to be picky about what it perfects on its new ten color. Over 90 percent of what it produces on the press is printed both sides in a single pass. OptiPrint jackets cover the impression cylinders with a surface that’s extremely ink resistant. That minimizes ink pick-up from the wet side of the perfected sheet. “That significantly improves the quality of work,” Nicholds says. “Our press operators don’t have to chase after marking in the press. That’s one less thing they have to worry about.” Dollco also has no worries regarding the variety of work it’s completing on the ten-color 700. “We’re printing short-run publications, catalogs and a wide variety of commercial work much more efficiently than ever before,” Nicholds says. “Anything that is 4/4 lends itself to perfecting on that press. The savings in time and production costs are huge.” Production costs are also being kept in check by the InlineSheeter that is integrated into the 700’s feeder. The MAN Roland device lets the printer use web stock in place of cut sheets on longer jobs. That results in reduced paper costs. Pressroom Manager Ted Trynda explains how the savings are derived: “Printing from web stock makes us responsible for a job that the paper supplier normally handles — formatting sheets to match the job at hand. InlineSheeter makes it easy because it’s digitally controlled. We simply have to punch in the numbers of the new format, so we can change from one format to another in a matter of minutes.” Another advantage of the InlineSheeter’s design is that the reel stand and the cross cutter are mounted on rails. That makes it easy to switch back and forth between rolled stock and cut sheets. Meanwhile, Dollco’s new five-color ROLAND 700 is proving to be just as useful as its longer mate. “We’re producing a wide range of commercial work on the five-color,” Nicholds reports. “It’s a very versatile machine.” One ongoing job is for Dollco Golf, a subsidiary devoted to providing a quality source of printing to courses in Canada and the US. The project involves printing customized scorecards that are used on most golf courses in Canada. The five-color’s in-line coater is also scoring big for Dollco. In fact, the printer applies aqueous coating whenever it can, both as a quality enhancement and the time saver. Explains Nicholds: “Everything comes off dry, so it improves our productivity. We can run the backside immediately, and send work in progress right to the bindery. That helps our turnaround time. The 700’s coating unit gives us quick makereadies and applies a gloss that’s in keeping with the quality standards of our commercial customers.” CIM-Ready The new presses’ PECOM operating and automation system make them ideal for computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) scenarios that will further Dollco was among the first in the industry to utilize a Management Information System. In the next few months, the company plans to move up to an all-new MIS solution and PECOM will be integrated with it. “PECOM lets us monitor and control every adjustment and every operation on the ROLAND 700 from one console,” says Press Operator Charlie Cleroux. “So right from the start we were able to produce more effectively with this equipment.” But the future looks even brighter for Cleroux: “When we network PECOM with our new MIS solution, our makereadies will be even more automated, because the parameters of every job will be sent directly to the PECOM console. We won’t have to waste time re-entering numbers, so we can focus more on quality and getting the job done quickly.” MAN Roland service and support are also getting high marks from the Dollco crew. Training is described as “excellent,” and both installations were completed on the day they were scheduled. “We were able to run four shifts on the ten color and three shifts on the five color right off the bat,” Nicholds remarks. “You could say our expectations have been exceeded.”