Australia's first high speed ROLAND R706 LV HS press has kicked off to a flying start at leading packaging printer, Hannapack, reports Nicholas Pond of Print 21.

Australia’s first high-speed Manroland R706 LV HS touches down at Sydney’s Hannapak, with two more 700 series sheetfed presses following hot on its heels. The $multi-million investment is a resounding vote of confidence for the German manufacturing giant’s standing as a leading force in the packaging industry.

The state-of-the-art press went into Hannapak’s Richmond site over January and February, and is now up and running live jobs at the country’s largest, privately owned, paperboard-packaging manufacturer. The six-colour R706 LV HS is the most productive press in its class, with a top speed of 18,000 sheets per hour, and a raft of the latest production efficiencies and automation in the market. A serious investment by any standard, Sam Hanna, Managing Director of Hannapak, tells Print21 that the move is well worth the outlay.

According to Hanna the decision was, of course, based on a range of criteria, “Most importantly, our previous success with Manroland presses, confidence in the Manroland ownership under Langley Group who have shown commitment and focus to servicing the packaging industry and the specific technology available in the HS high speed series that will deliver optimum operational efficiencies for our company.”

For Hanna the new gear driven pallet changeover device in the AUPASYS material logistics system helped seal the deal. The cutting edge innovation is stand out feature, along with the Inline Inspector 2.0 system with PDF verification integrated into the InlineSorter, ramping the press up to a peak capacity of 18,000 sheets per hour.

“This combination equates to the most productive 3B format press for producing quality packaging in Australia,” says Hanna.

The R706 LV HS is custom built for folding carton packaging, designed in direct consultation with leading companies worldwide, including Hannapak, to handle high volumes while delivering uncompromised high quality work. Finding the right balance was a crucial ingredient for Hanna, who already has the machine up to its 18,000 sheet-an-hour peak speeds.

“This latest investment is in line with our company philosophy of combining traditional values with state-of-the-art technology. It will service our company and customers well for the future,” he says.

While the Hannapak install is done and dusted, an R706 LTTLV sheetfed press is scheduled to land at Colorpak’s Braeside facility in Victoria this month, with a third 700 to land shortly after that. According to Steve Dunwell, Manroland Australia, managing director, these recent successes are a marked endorsement from the local industry for manroland’s ongoing commitment to provide leading technology and service to the packaging sector.

“The people at these top packaging printing companies know what they want in a sheetfed press. They are very experienced printers and I believe the decision to go with the latest manroland 700 is a vindication of the high productivity technology now available for the packaging market,” said Dunwell.

The Hannapak installation was executed seamlessly over January and February by manroland’s local technicians, together with specialists flown in from Offenbach. The press is additional to Hannapak’s current capacity and brings its tally up to a total of seven manroland presses in operation.