(January 12, 2009) As a large manufacturer of premium presentation folders and related items, Admore Inc. takes pride in its high-end product line and GM Bill Tignanelli is thankful his company, located in Macomb, Michigan, does not do traditional printing.  Despite the current economic situation in its home state, Admore has already benefitted from purchasing the 5-color ROLAND 500. The award-winning 4-color process shop now has the ability to offer finished products much quicker than before since replacing their 1980s era equipment.

Company officials are already noticing some impressive returns after just six months of employing the new press technology.  The number of jobs per day has increased dramatically, and his fast-learning crew continues to take advantage of the number of automated features the press offers to make them more efficient.  That's especially important because he sells through marketing distributors and brokers to his national accounts, which causes unusually tight deadlines for print.

Doing the homework ensures a smart investment

Admore is owned by Ennis, Inc., so this pressroom project was considered against other corporate investments.  The process began with a capital request in 2005,   recalls Tignanelli.  About 18 months was spent researching production presses available in the market.  A tour of the manroland factory in Germany left Admore officials impressed by the engineering design of the ROLAND 500 press. Tignanelli and others learned more about the press during a demonstration in late 2007 at manroland's Print Technology Center in Chicago, and later made the decision to buy after receiving great feedback from other printers who own a ROLAND 500.

Tignanelli, who was named GM in 2000 and managed several production departments after starting in pre-press in 1983, said, "We needed a 29-inch press and the ROLAND 500 replaced a Heidelberg 5-color and a Heidelberg 2-color press.  It is performing very well.  We knew the ROLAND 500 would improve our makereadies, run speeds, and wash-ups and find us more time to get additional work done.   By pulling out the old technology, we also reduced our number of shifts.  We now run five days a week plus overtime instead of seven."

Reducing turnaround time is the key factor to success for a short-run shop.  So, too, are finding ways to be more profitable.  Tignanelli was banking on both along with a fast learning curve.

"Our customers want jobs done quickly, and they expect them to be done on  deadline and to look great for a reasonable price," Tignanelli said.  "It was getting to where we couldn't do it with the older technology.  That's why we selected   manroland."

Automation and training makes for easier transitions
Admore's ROLAND 500 is highly automated to the point where, with the push of a button, press operators can start one job and prepare for the next.  Besides the format settings and washing systems, it has PPL (Power Plate Loading) and ColorPilot, the fastest color control system on the market.  The QuickChange   modules reduce make ready times by making ink fountain cleaning fast and simple.

"ColorPilot does exactly what it says it will do.  We are up to color in no time,"Tignanelli said."It scans a sheet and adjusts the ink key settings to stay within our preset values.  Compared to what we had before, this keeps the print quality of the job consistent from start to finish."

Tignanelli expected good results with the ROLAND 500 press, but what impressed him further was the level of training his team received from manroland.

"The press was intuitive to master and the easy-to-use electronic controls shortened the learning curve.  There is so much data to work with but the training was great," Tignanelli said.  "The Power Printers training program with manroland was done on site and our operators are doing very well with the press.  We have the printservices package and use TelePresence, the remote diagnostics program.  It keeps our down time to a minimum.  When there is an issue, we    connect with manroland and if it requires us to use the camera and show the   problem, we usually make adjustments in a very short time."

Having a plan and making it work
The ROLAND 500 project is proceeding according to the implementation plan and is exceeding production goals.  "We're now doing about 36 to 40 jobs a day.  One of our two-man crews did 18 in one shift, and 11 of them were with PMS colors," said Tignanelli.  "Really, we haven't had any surprises.  Our average run speeds have improved two to three times faster than our previous equipment, and the top speed of 18,000 sheets per hour is a huge advantage for us."