Nurtingen, Germany – BW Papersystems, the world’s largest manufacturer of paper and board sheeting machinery have created a new product group focusing on Sheeters for pre, and post press inline operation.

Inline Sheeters fall into 2 major groups:

Pre-Press. To cut sheets from a reel and delivery directly into a Sheet Fed Offset Press.
Post-Press. To install at the end of Digital, Flexo or Gravure web press.

Talking firstly about Pre-Press, BW Bielomatik based in Nurtingen Germany, has produced Pre-Press Sheeters for over 20 years with more than 400 operating today. For the first time an Inline Sheeter suitable for large format Offset presses has been developed.

The LFS 165 Sheeter can sheet reels up to 1650 mm wide with a range of 40-350 gsm. During recent tests the machine switched form 120 gsm paper to 40 gsm paper with no manual adjustment and no reduction in the 300 m/min speed.

The LFS 165 is not just a wider version of existing machinery. It has far greater automation to match the fast order change features of modern press and the ability to run a wider range of materials at 15000 sheets per hour.

The LFS 165 is available to all press manufacturers and to printers with existing large format presses.

Pre-Press Sheeter users have explained that they enjoy many benefits including those listed below.

• Higher speed and more reliable feeding when printing lightweight paper, plastic film or materials with high static charge
• Lower price. (reels cost less than sheets)
• Reduced inventory, as many sheet sizes can be cut from 1 roll
• Elimination of double handling by removing the need to use a pile turner
• Reduced paper store area as rolls can be stacked higher than pallets of sheets
• Ability to source from a wider range of mills as a few roll sizes can cover all sheet sizes required.

Moving onto to Post-Press 
At Drupa 2016 there was an increase of web fed, digital and analogue printing presses producing sheet based products. The manufacturers of these presses commented that there were few Sheeters specifically designed for inline operation and none that could allow them to maximise the performance of their equipment, particularly fast size changes.

After 12 months of market consultations with OEM,s and printers, BW Papersystems will offer 2 families of sheeters in 106 cm and 165 cm widths. These models will have a flexible platform to cater for digital and analogue inline applications, inline /offline combination and offline configurations.

These Sheeters will handle a material range of 60-400 gsm with speeds from 80-350 m/min
All machines will have automatic size change, a non-contact sheet transport system and automatic sheet rejection. Optional features will include:

• Automatic sample sheet collection
• Non-stop pallet change
• Web trimming and centre slitting
• Smart register mark technology for sheet identification and routing

For the first time a range of sheeters designed specifically for inline operation and the flexibility of modern presses is available to Press Manufacturers and Printers.

For information regarding Pre-Press or Post Press please contact Steve Brimble, VP Strategic OEM Accounts, at [email protected].