(August 19, 2008) DRAABE, the world’s leading manufacturer of humidification systems, has teamed up with the world’s three major printing press manufacturers to provide optimum humidification at their production and training facilities. DRAABE systems are installed at Heidelberg, KBA, and manroland sites all over the world including eight sites in Germany, five international sites, and one U.S. installation at the headquarters for KBA in Vermont.
 
All three of these major press manufacturers agree that having DRAABE’s humidification systems in their own facilities is important. "The high production capacity of modern printing presses and the continued further development of paper and printing ink require increasingly standardized production conditions," says Ulf Kamiski, head of maintenance for Koenig & Bauer (KBA), explaining the need for constant humidity.
 
For Bruno Lutter, trainer in printing technology for manroland commercial printing presses, the correct humidity has always been important: "As a printer, I know what problems can be caused if the humidity in the pressroom is too low. These can include paper distortion, electrostatic charges and register differences. To me it was obvious that optimal humidity of 45-50% must be provided in our training center."
 
With around 6,400 employees, Heidelberg’s Wiesloch-Waldorf plant is the largest printing press factory in the world operated by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, the world's leading supplier of sheetfed offset presses. The right humidity plays a crucial role in quality assurance in many production facilities in the 9,257 sq ft site. At 807 sq ft, Hall 6 is the largest production area for the modular and final assembly of the Speedmaster SM 102 and XL 105 sheetfed presses. The DRAABE DI Puls high-pressure nozzle system has been installed there since 1996 to ensure a constant, year-round relative humidity of 50%. Currently, 215 DRAABE atomizers are in use. "Optimal humidity is a prerequisite for printing and testing after final assembly. If the humidity is too low, the test runs are disrupted, spoilage increases and both time and money are wasted," explains Nikolaus Görgen from Heidelberg Facility Management Engineering.
 
The hygienic and fault-free operation of the air humidification system is ensured by the specially-prepared DRAABE pure water which is also used at Heidelberg for the process water supply to the printing presses. Heidelberg’s Görgen expects 365 fault-free days a year from an air humidification system and, so far, he's never been disappointed by DRAABE: "Reliability, hygiene and service are the key characteristics of the DRAABE system. We weren't impressed by either the technology or the available maintenance concepts of other systems."
 
The KBA plant in Radebeul near Dresden is one of the busiest production plants in the KBA Group and, with its 2,300 employees, is responsible for sheetfed offset printing production. The printing presses from the KBA plant at Radebeul range from half-format 52 x 74 cm to large 2 m sheetfed formats. KBA is an international market leader in large format. The in-house training center at Radebeul offers the best conditions for training courses for KBA customers lasting several days. Around 10,764 sq ft is devoted to practical training on a Rapida 105 and a Rapida 142. Both the training center and the paper store have been fitted with the DRAABE TurboFog air humidification system since 2004. "We also like to familiarize our customers from around the world with the subject of 'humidity'," says Kamiski.
 
Crucial to the selection of the DRAABE system were the integrated water treatment and the special full-service maintenance package: "All system modules including service come from a single source and are perfectly tailored to each other – this provides reliability," explains Kaminski. Thanks to the modular container system, it is also possible to expand a DRAABE system at any time without incurring major installation costs. This is a benefit that KBA will also utilize in the construction of its new training center.
 
The assembly of web offset presses for newspaper printing and high value commercial printing takes place at manroland’s Augsburg production site in Germany. Four DRAABE DI Puls high-pressure atomizers have been installed at Augsburg for ten years. In this time, Bruno Lutter, trainer in printing technology for manroland commercial printing presses, has come to value a positive side effect of the air humidification: "The correct air humidity promotes a very pleasant and healthy indoor environment. When I have to talk a lot, I particularly enjoy the pleasant air in the training center."
 
He continues, “In 10 years, there has never been a fault in the DRAABE system - it always runs perfectly," recalls Lutter. In order to ensure full performance and 100% hygiene, maintenance of the DRAABE systems is very simply carried out using the full-service rental system: Every six months, manroland receives completely serviced and disinfected replacement units for the water treatment and high-pressure pulsation systems. Bruno Lutter sees this service as a true "worry-free package" that fits perfectly with the manroland product philosophy.
 
The DRAABE high-pressure air humidification TurboFog system features a pulsating hydraulic flow and special titanium nozzles that atomize the water to a micro-fine aerosol directly in the room. Not only is this procedure very energy efficient, it is also quiet and absolutely drip free. The air humidity is controlled by a precision hygrostat. The atomization is activated as soon as the air humidity falls below the set optimum value. Only highly pure, de-mineralized water from a reverse osmosis unit integrated in the DRAABE System is used in order to ensure hygienic and trouble-free operation of the air humidification system.