Austrian printing firm Oberdruck recently invested in an eight-colour Rapida 106 perfector for 4-over-4 production with LED-UV kit. The courage for the investment is rewarded with a raft of major advantages. Austrian trade journalist Knud Wassermann looked at the concrete benefits when visiting Lienz.

Around one year ago Hans Oberbichler and production manager Michael Platter visited KBA in Radebeul as an investment was on the cards to replace the company’s old eight-colour press. Although Hans Oberbichler has withdrew from the operative management of Oberdruck, he continues to support the company with strategic developments and upcoming investment decisions. The two gentlemen were able to see the differences first hand between conventional, HR- and LED-UV as part of an open house at KBA. Production manager Michael Platter sums up his first impressions: “LED-UV is the future. You can forget everything else. Even HR-UV with its iron-doped UV dryers is only an interim step towards LED-UV.”

Regionality as a way of life

Oberdruck is a printing service provider with strong regional roots. It predominantly serves the market in East Tyrol, Austria. Away from the busy roads, East Tyrol has kept its original and authentic character. Here regionality is not just a slogan for expressing the spirit of the time, it is a way of life. The people who live here like to turn to local companies. With this in mind Hans Oberbichler tells an anecdote and can’t help but smile: “A couple from East Tyrol ordered a newspaper from an online printer for their wedding, so far so good. Shortly before their date they received an email informing them that the newspaper would not be delivered until the Monday after the wedding. We naturally jumped in and delivered the newspaper in time for their big day.”

The right overall package

“Word of this naturally spread quickly and people value our flexibility and reliability.” Managing director Silvia Oberbichler: “Our customers know that we offer the whole package.” 20 employees ensure that this remains the case and provide the company with the necessary flexibility in pre-press, printing and post-press. As the site in Lienz “is rather out of the way”, as described by Hans Oberbichler, production security is of great importance. This means that the technology is safeguarded and back-ups are made in all areas. A generously sized paper warehouse allows the company to react extremely quickly to market demands.

Established workflow

Several periodicals, such as the Osttiroler Bote which is produced in sheetfed offset in very narrow time frame with a circulation of some 17,000 copies, guarantee a fundamental level of capacity utilisation. The final data arrives Wednesdays at 7:30pm and a large part of the 96 to 112-page periodicals have to be delivered by midnight. The Osttiroler Bote is without a doubt the company’s largest periodical, nevertheless its know-how and established workflows also benefit other projects. Furthermore, the company works closely with local agencies and graphic artists to produce challenging commercial printwork. Whereby there is clearly an upward trend in terms of quality, as Silvia Oberbichler affirms.

Only paper conveys emotions

The new Rapida 106-8 SW4+L ALV2 LED-UV FAPC was installed at the beginning of May. Its rather longwinded name refers to an eight-colour perfector for 4-over-4 production and a coater for dispersion or UV coating, double-delivery extension and automatic plate changing. Its highlight is LED-UV technology which opens up new possibilities for the company. Hans Oberbichler does not underline the faster lead times delivered by the press as a priority, but rather focuses on the topic of quality, especially in connection with uncoated stock: “Creative minds recognise the role that haptic qualities play in communication time and again, this is in contrast to the way electronic media conveys emotions.”

The look and feel of uncoated stock, which is valued by many agencies, is retained with LED-UV technology. Hans Oberbichler takes this opportunity to display a wealth of print samples and lays some extremely convincing examples on the table. Above all, these samples show high colour brilliancy and crisp details even with heavy solids. At a closer look it is noticeable that the fold is not inclined to crack given the elastic polymerisation of the LED-UV ink even with high ink coverage.

Furthermore, the fact that LED-UV ink dries immediately is also an important factor at Oberdruck. The efficiency of the folder and gang-stitcher can be increased substantially as powder is almost dispensed with completely cutting cleaning efforts during printing and in post-press. Speaking from experience Silvia Oberbichler states that the higher costs associated with LED-UV ink are no longer an issue if you take these and other factors such as fewer risks when delivering sheets onto the pile into account.

Never change a running system

Oberdruck relies on the starter pack from KBA when it comes to consumables. It includes coordinated inks, cleaning agents, fount solution and blankets, “The materials have been tested and ensured that we had a trouble-free start with LED-UV,” says Hans Oberbichler. He says that of course money can be saved here or there, but often at the expense of the press’ productivity. This is why he was happy to rely on KBA’s recommendations. What is more, an entire range of colours is available.

LED dryers have a reputation of being expensive. Nevertheless, there are concrete arguments that can undermine this. These include the service life of LED dryers which stands at around 20,000 hours. Conventional UV or HR-UV dryers manage only around 2,000 operating hours. This fact alone justifies the extra cost, Hans Oberbichler points out, and names lower energy consumption as another plus point. What is more, he emphasises that LED-UV dryers are ready for immediate operation and do not produce any waste heat. This heat can lead to problems in other processes with swelling of blankets, ink misting or dissolving of the coloured film in the ink duct and even processing temperature-sensitive substrates is not made any easier. This is why KBA positions its HR-UV dryers in a separate tower and can thus avoid these problems. LED-UV technology is much more flexible when it comes to positioning the dryers. Oberdruck positions its dryer before perfecting and after the coater. KBA gives LED-UV technology preference due to all of these reasons.

LED-UV scores points all the way down the line

After three months LED-UV technology has bowled over everyone at Oberdruck and production manager Michael Platter’s opinion that “LED-UV is the future” has been affirmed at the company. What is more, when used in combination with a UV coater the firm can target new customers who place great importance on top-of-the-range services.