On 12th November, 70 print experts from across the globe experienced the thrill of high speed performance both inside and outside the printroom at the action-packed COLORMAN e:line technology forum in Kempten, organized by manroland web systems. The guests from various reputed printing houses engaged in a memorable race experience with ABT Sportsline, and then witnessed the unmatched high performance of the new COLORMAN e:line at the Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag.

“We want to bring you face-to-face with technology in Kempten. Tonight you will experience the COLORMAN e:line at the Allgäuer Zeitung, but to set the mood please enjoy plenty of horsepower at the ADAC training ground.” Eckhard  Hoerner-Marass, Managing Director, manroland web systems greeted around 70 guests, including customers from large European printing houses at the facilities of car tuning specialists ABT Sportsline. After these introductory words, the guests moved onto the high octane racing circuit to experience the thrill of high speed racing in high-horsepower KTM X-Bow racing carsAt the end of the day, the racing winners were announced and felicitated by manroland web systems.

High automation equals high performance 
However, the high speed performance winner of the night was undoubtedly the COLORMAN e:line. With a maximum speed of 50,000 revolutions per hour and honored with the 2013 Red Dot Award for excellent product design, the COLORMAN e:line sets new standards in high speed and quality printing. The fastest press in the world is now available in two variants: the COLORMAN e:line 45 for medium-sized print runs and the COLORMAN e:line 50 for high speed and advanced automation print requirements. Markus Brehm, Managing Director of Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag, welcomed the guests to the printing house in a traditional Allgäu style and followed by Wilfried Sutter, Technical Director, who explained the reasons behind the printing house’s decision for shifting from the previously installed old KBA presses to the new investment in the COLORMAN e:line. Their clear needs were economical production, short makeready times, high printing speeds, and a high degree of automation, all being absolutelycritical for the strategy of the company. Reducing makeready times is particularly important to the Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag. “After all, we must deliver the eight regional editions to five post offices first thing in the morning,” reported Sutter. That means that the production must be finished by 1.30 a.m. How does that work in practice? The Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag demonstrated live the high performance of the press to the guests without any reservations. The guests were allowed complete access to the entire COLORMAN e:line system and examined the technology in detail. What was especially interesting? “In particular, I was impressed by the highly efficient APL robots from manroland web systems,” explained a customer from Bavaria. He was not alone there; the APL – robotic plate changing feature was particularly well received. Later in the night, the customers tracked exactly the short make ready time on the COLORMAN e:line for each of the eight regional editions of the Allgäuer Zeitung. Makeready times have been reduced to approximately 3 minutes per regional edition. For this same task, the previous KBA press needed 20 minutes to half an hour.

Four cornerstones of success
In Kempten, specialists from manroland web systems explained in depth the 4 technological cornerstones of the COLORMAN e:line to the forum guests: short makeready times, premium print quality, efficiency and energy savings, as well as ultra-high speed combined with low waste. 

• The fully automatic plate change ensures short makeready times; the COLORMAN e:line has an impressive 3-minute plate change time and an overall availability of 99.85%.Premium print quality is produced by the 9 roller inking unit , expandable at any time to full heatset quality with  11-roller inking unit with a third oscillating roller and third ink form roller.
• The COLORMAN e:line significantly reduces overall lifetime costs of the press through the exterior inking unit wash-up devices, fully accessible printing units, and an APL that requires almost no wearing parts additionally ensuring efficient maintenance. The bridge drive systems in the COLORMAN e:line save up to 8% energy consumption in comparison to competitor presses with more drives.
• With 100,000 copies an hour, the COLORMAN e:line 50 is the fastest newspaper press in the world. Automation and regulation features such as InlineDampening Control and QuickStart keep waste to a minimum. Here’s where the printnetwork ControlCenter steps in with the MobilPad, which is ideal for quick and flexible setting adjustments on site significantly reducing waste.