The Brazilian printing sector would appear to have been waiting for this: the Commercial Former from manroland web systems. The unit transforms double web newspaper printing systems like the GEOMAN and the COLORMAN temporarily into single web printing presses – with all the benefits of a web width variability.

The Commercial Former, which has just been introduced to the market and which clearly offers many competitive advantages, has been purchased by three Brazilian printing houses recently. These manroland web systems customers all desired machines, which could be run at full capacity, so they carried out upgrades and extended their offerings by including commercial productions. The popularity of the Commercial Former in the largest Latin American newspaper market is no coincidence, as Andreas Wecker, Regional Sales Manager Service for North and South America at manroland web systems, knows: “In Brazil there is a broad base of double web newspaper presses. Actually, this is also the case in North America and Western Europe. So the Commercial Former is an interesting option, as a lot of these often large printing houses, have free capacities which they would like to fill up. The upgrade with the patented Commercial Former is therefore attractive from a pricing perspective as well as being easy to implement and it expands the offerings by adding advertising products, very flexibly.” This can be seen among manroland web systems’ Brazilian customers, who are now very active during the day with producing commercial products; particularly inserts from the trade sector have become very popular.

Two Becomes One – Temporarily  
The technology behind the Commercial Former enables an efficient changeover from the double web to a single web production. This temporary single web newspaper press with a variable web width of between 560 and 900 mm enables a multitude of business ideas and a huge variety of production possibilities. Using the Commercial Former means that up to ten paper webs can run through the double former, which makes it possible to produce advertising products flexibly and economically in various editions and formats. The Commercial Former can be installed at all 4:1 or 4:2  presses. On a double former machine, the formers will be swung away from the working area on a track system, making space for the additional Commercial Former. The paper web will then be guided straight through the middle of the press. Turner bars are not necessary. There is now scope for a multitude of product ideas. The potential customers will achieve a quick return on investment with a relatively low initial investment.