Soon after Excelsior Printing installed their new ROLAND 706 press in February, Mark Gebbie wasted little time protecting the company's investment.  Since opting to switch to manroland's printcom 211P solvent wash and 106N blankets, the press bindery supervisor has managed to reduce pressroom consumption by 25 percent over the last three months.

The North Adams, Mass. printer continues to adapt beyond traditional offset printing after acquiring a garden seed packaging subsidiary last year.  Purchasing the 6-color press was the latest decision that has led to immediate benefits in    productivity, quality and environmental sustainability.  The advanced features not only reduce the impact on the environment with less paper waste and materials usage, but the press also replaced three older models.

The ROLAND 706 has improved the consistency and quality of Excelsior's printing of short and long run jobs and the decision to use printcom products takes the company's environmental commitment to the next level.  manroland's concept of CMYK + Green fit well with Excelsior's vision since the company was the first FSC certified printer in Berkshire County.

"We began using the 211P solvent wash in March and had immediate results," Gebbie said.  "It works very well and we have reduced our consumption and wash-up times by 25 percent, which looks great when you add those savings to the    bottom line.  manroland did extensive testing with us on the press and we learned even more about the testing they do on the solvent wash and 106N blankets."

The printcom 211P wash is a powerful sheetfed solvent for blankets, impression cylinders and rollers.  Highly economical, it can be used with all common brush, cloth, and blade wash-up devices as well as manual washing and 211P qualifies as a non-hazardous waste.  It offers outstanding cleaning power, excellent emulsion stability and is compatible with numerous types of CTP plates.

Gebbie said the training program manroland offered for the ROLAND 706 press made the transition to using their consumable products rather simple.

."We had some initial problems with the blankets but that was from us putting them on too tight. I couldn't ask for anything more from manroland with how technically involved they are. Both products are used day in and day out and the performance level is very good."
Four months after Excelsior turned on the switch, the performance of the ROLAND 706 is meeting or exceeding all expectations.

"From a customer viewpoint, we were looking for faster turnaround and less material waste for each job we do," said Excelsior owner and chairman, David Crane, whose company services a wide range of clients in education, seed packaging, cultural and arts, greeting card and consumer products.  "The consistency and quality of our printing has improved with the latest color control and electronics on this press."