Ottawa, Ontario - "We knew we could trust MAN Roland to deliver what they promise," says Kevin Nicholds, co-president of Dollco Printing. "The performance of our new ROLAND 700s and the service and support we get makes MAN Roland a known quantity for us. And the MAN Roland team was just as attentive after the sale as they were before we purchased those presses. So they earned their credibility with us. We can trust what they say." Dollco, one of Canada's largest privately-held commercial printing facilities, has just added a four-unit ROTOMAN web press to its extensive array of sheetfed, heatset web and coldset web equipment. The press was installed in July and will go into production this month. "We are now in training," Nicholds says. "The installation has been like clockwork and is on schedule to the day." Tracing the Track Record Dollco's experience with its sheetfed MAN Roland presses made the press provider the leading candidate in his selection process. ROTOMAN's track record reinforced that position during Dollco's research phase. "They last so long because they're built so well," Nicholds notes. Nicholds also polled industry sources and facilities that are running ROTOMAN presses to get a handle on the system's working performance: "Speaking to ROTOMAN customers, we were very impressed what they were able to achieve in their real life production scenarios." Dollco itself serves as a model of how to print more productively by embracing innovative technology. The company is two years into lean manufacturing; has used computer-to-plate for over nine years, and has 25 years experience using Management Information Systems (MIS). In fact, Dollco will be ramping up a new MIS combination to drive its business as the ROTOMAN goes into production. EFI's Prograph and PrintFlow systems will automate production planning and scheduling at the company. "We're very committed to Computer Integrated Manufacturing," Nicholds notes. "And we know that MAN Roland is a leader in CIM-enabling technology. They make sure everything connects correctly. We'll ultimately be using Prograph to preset the ROTOMAN through its PECOM system, which will accelerate our makereadies." Moving quickly from job-to-job will be critical to the ROTOMAN's success at Dollco. "This press is not intended to be a long-run producer," Nicholds says. "We intend to fully capitalize on its fast setup characteristics." QuickStart for a Strong Finish To further minimize downtime between projects, Dollco has equipped its ROTOMAN with MAN Roland's QuickStart. The system optimizes and orchestrates the press's start-up functions to cut waste and empower the press to produce saleable copies more quickly. The program controls the timing and duration of ink unit conditioning, pre-inking and dryer pre-heating. It also automates the engage and disengage sequences and runs optimized acceleration curves. Then during and after the run, QuickStart dynamically manages inking along with blanket washing and roll changing sequences. Dollco's four-unit, one-web ROTOMAN is equipped to print at speeds up to 65,000 IPH. To add versatility to that high production rate, it is coupled to a MAN Roland high-speed single chopper folder with the capability to produce Delta and Double Parallel folds, and 4-, 8-, and 16-page signatures. "Our new ROTOMAN will be ideal for short to medium run publication work, catalogs and longer direct mail projects," Nicholds notes. "And thanks to the flexibility of its MAN Roland folder, we will be able to finish it inline." 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 every other kind of commercial print and communications service 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 Nicholds. The facility backs up its quality credentials by utilizing stochastic screening on every job - both web and sheetfed. Creo's Staccato drives that process. Making Way Dollco has removed an older half web press from its pressroom to make way for the new ROTOMAN. The MAN Roland system will provide quadruple the capacity of that press. The company's sales force has already been briefed about the new system's capabilities and training is on schedule. Two of Dollco's maintenance technicians went Germany for a two-week course at MAN Roland's headquarters. And press crews are now undergoing onsite training from MAN Roland instructors. As to MAN Roland's project management capabilities, Nicholds declares: "We know that MAN Roland will jump to the rescue if things aren't perfect. Their responsiveness is excellent. It's good to have them on both the sheetfed side and the web press side. They are leaders in both fields."