Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery (MHI-PPM) returns to drupa 2012 with a new corporate color on its booth located in Messe Düsseldorf’s Hall 6. Taking center stage within the MHI-P&PM exhibit area (Stand No. 6B79) will be a five-color DIAMOND V3000LS sheet-fed offset press. Among the innovations to be equipped on this press are the ecoUV drying system and the DIAMOND EYE-S inline quality control system.

The DIAMOND V3000LS is the essential press for high-quality commercial printing. The press features a maximum sheet size of 750mm x 1050mm (29-1/2” x 41-11/32”) and prints at a speed of 16,200 sheets per hour.

Mitsubishi’s energy-saving ecoUV system trims capital and operating costs for commercial printers who want to shift to ultraviolet printing. Employing high-sensitivity inks and only one ozone-less UV lamp, ecoUV delivers drying performance equivalent to conventional systems that utilize multiple lamps.

Existing presses can be easily fitted with the ecoUV system. The ecoUV consists of a single 120 watt lamp instead of the usual three to four 100-watt to 200-watt lamps. Specially formulated energy-saving inks and overprint varnishes dry instantly and exhibit the high gloss and surface protection that users expect from UV printing.

DIAMOND EYE-S is the world’s first inline quality control system for sheetfed presses to measure both color density and dot variations. DIAMOND EYE-S scans printed sheets and matches the print to the target values of each CMYK color. This automatic capability produces uniform color printing at all times, improves printing quality and saves energy.

DIAMOND EYE-S has a printing defect check function and a function to control colors through real-time density measurement. Line sensors located near the sheet read color bars or entire printed images. Based on the printing characteristics of the press, DIAMOND EYE-S compares prepress image data with the actual image data read by the sensor and automatically adjusts color density to reach the target.

A lock-on function tracks target density from the beginning to the end of printing. Automatic controls are tracked in real time on the operator console touch screen. Operators are freed from having to pull samples during print runs or manually perform ink key adjustments.

Press demonstrations will be run five to six times daily and focus on the environmental and economic benefits of the ecoUV system and the productivity and quality-enhancing advantages afforded by the DIAMOND EYE-S. MHI-P&PM will highlight the application of these systems to other Mitsubishi sheet-fed press models, including the DIAMOND V3000LX and DIAMOND V3000TP. Information on Mitsubishi newspaper presses, commercial web presses and corrugating machines will be provided in panel displays.

Mitsubishi remains committed to helping printers improve the quality and profitability of their work while reducing the environmental impact of printing, and the groundbreaking systems to be promoted on the MHI-P&PM stand at drupa 2012 are designed to do exactly that.