The Australian printer Blue Star WEB, which is part of the IVE Group, is ensuring its’ machinery is at the cutting edge of technology thereby equipping itself for the future through a further investment in a highly flexible web offset printing system from manroland web systems. The new ROTOMAN DirectDrive 16-page commercial press will be installed in Sydney and will produce a wide range of high quality commercial products & magazines.

Commencing operations in Sydney in 2001, Blue Star WEB is today a leading player in the domestic niche heat set web offset market. Significant and ongoing investment since inception provides the foundation for a nimble, highly automated and quality driven business. The company’s core expertise is in the production of special interest magazines, custom publications, and corporate livery including travel & tourism and financial services collateral and magalogues that will be produced on the new ROTOMAN press.

High quality commercial web offset
The new ROTOMAN DirectDrive generation is designed for the needs of highly demanding 16-page commercial printers. Automation features enable extremely short makeready times, high reproducibility and low start-up waste while maintaining premium printing quality. The new press for Blue Star WEB is equipped for fully automated version and signature changes thanks to the DynaChange printing units, automatic plate loading (APL) and automation functionality. The combination of 5 units & DynaChange allows for finishing options like coating or special color printing. Each printing couple is equipped with two motors and can move and adjust the cylinders to ensure that the web passes through untouched. This makes bypassed printing units and the use of blind plates a thing of the past. Printing companies benefit from shorter makeready times and less waste. The new press for Blue Star WEB runs with a speed of 65,000 revolutions per hour and has a web width of 965 mm. In addition the system is equipped with the manroland web systems Inline Control Systems for cut-off register, color register and ink density control. These automated functions guarantee consistently high print quality, lowest levels of waste and ease of operation for the machine personnel.

On top with DynaChange
All press functions are supported by the manroland web systems DynaChange technology, the superior, solution for flying job changes. The ROTOMAN switches imprints automatically on both sides of the web at high speeds. The web is guided through the printing units without contact or diversions. This sidesteps maintenance costs for web lead elements and reduces the risk of web breaks. For 4c products, switching the black form only requires a configuration change with a total of five printing units. If there are no imprint changes in the job, the fifth unit can optionally print a special color or coating.

Optimal Positioning
The contract for the high performance system was signed in November 2016. The system is scheduled to go into production at the end of 2017. Darryl Meyer, General Managing at Blue Star WEB, commented: “We create industrial products of the highest quality. Because we have been able to continuously expand our market presence over the last years, we have now decided to make further investments, in order to stay at the top of the Australian printing industry. We will be able to optimally position ourselves in the highly competitive Australian print market and provide our customers with further benefits and higher quality, with the new highly automated and extremely flexible production system. Our stable and experienced team is genuinely passionate about the business, and deeply committed to ensuring we continually look after our customers. Trusted by many of Australia’s most established publishers, Blue Star WEB produces and distributes many of the nation’s leading mastheads. This is the main reason, why we decided to invest in the new groundbreaking technology from manroland web systems – to stay on top.” Tim Ruth, Vice President Sales at manroland web systems is happy about the new order: “Blue Star WEB always likes to be one step ahead, now the printer invests in a ROTOMAN DirectDrive with DynaChange technology for flying imprint changes. This new efficiency in short run printing is as important as the long-term partnership of our two companies and underpinned the recent decision for the investment that makes us proud.”