manroland web systems has taken another step towards a comprehensive, finely calibrated product range. The Augsburg company will deliver the first short-grain 64-page LITHOMAN this year. The productivity and flexibility of the press offers another strong alternative for high-volume print.
manroland web systems is constantly advancing in the area of high-volume printing. Every printing company wants a press that perfectly suits its needs to be able to hold its ground in the competitive print and media industry. Reducing costs therefore continues to be the main customer requirement, while the demand for production flexibility is increasing – the same press must be as efficient for high-volume printing as for part editions. The short-grain 64-page LITHOMAN achieves this aim and takes its place as one of the production heroes for commercial printing – alongside the market leading 96-page LITHOMAN (six installed presses) and the 160-page LITHOMAN, which was installed at Kraft-Schlötels in Wassenberg, Germany.

New printing system stirs up the competition
The Augsburg company has extensive experience with short-grain printing systems with web widths of up to 2,060 mm and 70,000 cylinder revolutions per hour. Currently twenty 48-page LITHOMAN units are producing short-grain format around the world. This expertise was transferred to the 64-page LITHOMAN, and the first press is coming to Germany and will be ready for production before 2014 is over. Josef Aumiller, Sales Manager Germany at manroland web systems: “For this project, the customer recognized that the 64-page LITHOMAN is the ideal press for their order structure.” The flexible design of the LITHOMAN was consequently modified to meet the specific requirements of the customer. “Numerous automation options and new components are now integrated in the short-grain format, some for the first time,” explains Aumiller. “Included are in-house developments such as AutomaticPlateLoading, the DynaChange function, the Inline Control systems, and the new operating system.”

Press technology in detail
The short-grain 64-page LITHOMAN, with up to 70,000 cylinder revolutions per hour, has a web width of 2,640 mm and a minimal cut-off of up to a ¬paper-saving¬ 872 mm. This makes the press up to 33% more productive than the short-grain 48-page LITHOMAN. The sleeve technology and the interplay of the technical features in the print process ensure high quality, less waste, and improved efficiency, even at this high output. Among the features are the autoprint equipment for seamless job changeovers with the fully-automated APL plate change (AutomaticPlateLoading) and numerous Inline Control systems. manroland web systems has become independent of other manufacturers in recent years and established its own inline systems on the market: the cutting registers (InlineCutoff Control, InlineCutoff Control Dynamic) and InlineDensityControl reduce the make-ready times and also save on waste, as does the fan-out control (InlineFanout Control). Configurations with the use of a fifth or sixth printing unit provide added value for printing commercial advertising, and additional functions such as DynaChange for flying imprint changes or coatings and special colors can also be carried out. Of course, when using the LITHOMAN the operator also works with the latest operating system on the market, the ControlCenter in combination with the MobilPad.

Improved production diversity
In addition to the efficiency of high-volume production, product diversity really matters to customers. That’s why the folding technology of the new short-grain LITHOMAN works with broadsheet, tabloid and “in-in product” formats. The whole unit achieves productivity and product diversity that print specialists have always marveled at in gravure printing, due to the web width and number of pages achieved. Commercial printers can now also play in this league.