One year ago, Rosler Druck GmbH in Schorndorf, Germany set a world record by completing 676 plate changes within 24 hours on their ROLAND 700 DirectDrive press.  The impressive feat allowed them to maintain the world makeready champion title they earned in 2007.  More importantly, the lessons they learned from these accomplishments have been transferred to the company’s bottom line despite a world economic crisis.

Located in the Stuttgart area, Rosler Druck is one of the leading printing companies in the region.  As a service provider offering the latest in printing, prepress, innovation and information technology, its acquisition of a six-color ROLAND 700 DirectDrive with double coating system was done with its customers in mind.  The ability to reduce makeready times between plate changes increases capacity so a printer can complete more jobs completed in a day, allows short turnaround work, and saves on costs that can help keep the printer competitive.

“The jobs we print each day involve many form changes, so DirectDrive is indispensible for us to achieve short delivery times,” said Ivo Odak, Managing Director of Rosler Druck.  “We have to produce as many jobs as possible within a given period with a minimum of non-productive and makeready time.  Thanks to the DirectDrive press, we sell more jobs at better prices these days because we produce more efficiently.”

When the world record was set in 2008, the printing was done from typical commercial forms on Sappi Tempo Silk paper.  After every 1,000 good sheets, a plate change was made.  The result was 169 form changes involving a total of 676 plates.  Faster plate changes not only are providing specific advantages, but Ros-ler Druck’s customers have taken notice as well.

“We are turning jobs quicker.  For instance, with books that often have more than 300 pages but the run length is only between 500 and 1,500 copies,” Odak said.  “Customers are used to the fact that we offer very short delivery times and even meet many ‘impossible’ deadlines.  This has always been the case and sometimes we now deliver even faster.  Customers regard these short delivery times as normal, although many reward us with loyalty.”

Such productivity in short-run printing was inconceivable only a few years ago.  But the automated technology of the ROLAND 700 DirectDrive has captured the attention of the pressmen at Rosler Druck for a variety of reasons.

The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive operates with directly driven plate cylinders in all of its printing units.  The use of groundbreaking technology in combination with QuickChange, the makeready-reducing package with many presetting functions, and APL, the automatic plate change system, can substantially reduce makeready times.  With the simultaneous plate changing system and parallel makeready operations in blanket-cylinder, impression-cylinder and inking-unit wash-ups, plus ink feed, up to 60 percent of makeready time can be saved.

“It is making life easier for us,” Odak said.  “It allows us to carry out tasks simultaneously, such as washing: rollers at the top and the blankets below.  This saves time and we can concentrate on the main task which is printing.  Print length correction is a big help for us as well to correct small register variations whenever necessary.”