Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft decides for manroland

The Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft in Ulm, Germany, is investing four million euros in expanding its printing capacity and peripheral equipment. Centerpiece of the investment is an eight-color ROLAND 700 DirectDrive with an inline color measuring system. This new press shortens makeready times and increases productivity.

A gigantic 70 tonnes and a length of 15 meters, not including the control consoles: the new ROLAND 700 DirectDrive at the Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft in Ulm is most impressive. Up until now, this publishing house has used presses from another manufacturer so this is a premiere for manroland. The company's Managing Director, Udo Vogt, says: "The manroland eight-color perfector is unique in the printing landscape between Stuttgart and Munich, Constance and Würzburg. We opted for the ROLAND 700 DirectDrive simply because it meets our needs perfectly." The new press will be used to print periodicals, journals and magazines for institutions, publishers, and industry in general, as well as business reports for globally active companies. Then there are medium and long runs of folders for trade and industry. The product portfolio is rounded off by books and brochures for publishing houses within and outside the group. The Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft Ulm belongs to the Schwabenverlag Group, and has annual sales of around 19 million euros.

Fast and simple workflows
One of the biggest advantages is the dramatic reduction of makeready time, which is up to 60 percent below that of conventional sheetfed offset presses. Direct drive and the fully automatic plate changing system APL (AutomaticPlateLoading) enables all plates to be changed simultaneously, which simplifies the workflows. The plates are changed in all eight printing units in only one minute, and the blankets are washed at the same time. The electronic print length correction enables the printer to alter the length of the image during production. Thanks to QuickStart press control that is standard equipment, after a stop the press first accelerates to production speed and then paper feed commences. This considerably reduces start-up waste.

Another special feature is two InlineColorPilot color measuring systems, one before and one after the sheet turning station, including gray balance control from System Brunner. Alcohol-reduced printing, FSC certification and the possibility to offer climate neutral printing illustrates the environment-conscious behavior of the Süddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft. This resource-conserving corporate philosophy is supplemented by ProcessStandard Offset (PSO) certification that secures premium quality and color-compliant print products, as well as reliable and efficient process sequences.