The 4th Birmingham IPEX 2002 group is undoubtedly a digital exhibition in addition to the printing exhibition. The female guide on the IPEXIA-IPEX website will also confirm this to us. The more accurate statement is that many of the printing equipment that has appeared on DRUPA 2000 to transform the digital technology to a large scale, and when the IPEX 2002 is held, it will formally introduce its mature model in the market.
The important question that arises is, what position is the post-press process in this transformation? To be honest, I thought it was in a dilemma.
Postpress Automation Technology
We don't plan to discuss too many technical issues here. At the IPEX 2002 show, manufacturers will show how they can solve all the problems of the digitalized post-press technology, especially in the case of full-color printing. Special attention must be paid to the toner layer or digital ink in order to avoid prints. There are scratches and so on.
We can also expect that the traditional postpress equipment introduced at IPEX 2002 will be more shaftless, controlled by the server instead of the gearbox, giving more flexibility, especially in the machine. In terms of deployment, and can save maintenance costs. In addition, in addition to the fact that most processing programs have approached their physical speed limit (the final printing speed of the press can only be the speed at which the paper is actually conveyed), many new post-press equipment are not only at the front end, but also from the middle to the lower end. All will be completely self-reliant.
For post-press equipment, automatic operation essentially means the addition of electronic controls for job preparation, as well as the use of standard layouts such as CIP4. At IPEX 2002, we can learn more about this. However, it is worth noting whether the postpress industry is fully prepared to be automated.
dilemma
In fact, it is precisely because of automation that the dilemma of India will emerge. "Automatic control is indispensable for the future of post-press technology." This is quite correct in itself. First, as the entire printing industry is moving toward tighter deadlines and shorter work cycles, resulting in more job conversions and the need to reduce the time required for setting up preparations, the post-press business is also facing increasing pressure. . Second, automatic control can reduce the labor force and solve the problems caused by the reduction of skilled operators.
On the other hand, despite the electronic control's greater accuracy in manual job preparation, it is difficult to economically cost the automation of postpress machinery as it does in press automation. In fact, it is not always reasonable to increase certain expenses on machines.
Then we will again encounter problems with the workflow. Automation means running on-line or in-line, that is, producing the final finished document with minimal operations. However, in terms of layout, program flexibility and production efficiency, there is a phenomenon of replacement. For example, the maximum speed of an automated production line can only be the same as the slowest one of the slowest parts; if one component fails, the entire production line will stop. Experience tells us that more than one unit structure in the system never runs to the next process at the same time.
The more serious flaw may be lack of flexibility. Whether you are a printer or a professional printer, this is a basic guideline. In order to gain more control, printers who have established a complete production line need to keep their equipment running as much as possible. Professional printers who have already lost a lot of business because of the "one-stop" trend are Need to diversify their operations.
Offline/Nearline Operation
The alternative is of course off-line, or what is currently referred to as "near-line" operation. You can therefore gain flexibility and use automated job preparation to reduce machine setup times, especially when using standard layouts such as CIP4. However, in this case, due to the need to move the printed product from one post-press device to another, the time for delivery will be prolonged and labor costs will increase. This is actually a waste, and this waste will increase with the variety of processes.
Even so, people began to look for practical workflow solutions. The online or tandem connection solution is fully automatic, or at least as automatic as possible; if the output form is determined in advance for a particular product type, then this solution is most likely to be successful. In other words, it is more important to obtain a reliable and fast output relative to the full load of the production line.
The opposite example is a profit-oriented printing business. Here, in order for the printing plant to run at full capacity, not only do you need maximum flexibility, but you also need to get the highest productivity from the machines so that they can fully release their energy, take on extra work, and increase turnover.
In such cases, the best solution is likely to be a near-line approach, or a so-called “unit structure†production approach as described by DAVID SANDERSON, director of overseas operations at ROLL SYSTEMS. After studying the post-press market in more detail, he explained the difference between the production method of the unit structure and the traditional assembly line method with the example of automobile manufacturing:
"The car was once made on a long assembly line. However, if the assembly line stops at any point, it will have to pause at all points."
“Today, the vast majority of cars and other similar products have tended to be manufactured using unit structure production methods. For example, the assembly of automotive transmission systems can be completed by two unit structures on the production line.
"This is the case of a near-line rather than an on-line or linked mode because the above two units are not connected in series; even if one unit stops, the other will not stop."
Breakpoints in the job
The same principle can also be applied to the printing industry, ie a job interruption point is made on the production line where the product can be moved to an offline installation. The typical position of this interruption point may be a place where a printed matter can be easily moved by a human hand to the next stage of the production process, and its production speed is also measured by other standards. â€
For example, when working with a printer or a digital printer, the speed is mainly measured in meters per meter or per hour or in number of sheets. However, once the product is formed, the speed is measured by the number of units per minute or per hour.
In other words, there is a natural point of interruption here, especially where the usual speed differences occur. Although the maximum speed of the printing equipment can be accurately matched to a special product's special post-printing equipment, such as printing a 20-page booklet, as long as the number of pages in the booklet changes, it is either a printing press or Postpress equipment cannot operate with maximum production capacity.
Utilizing this natural breakpoint to turn online or tandem operations into near-line or off-line operations makes it possible to operate all machines at maximum speed and to make certain machines run longer than other machines. Or some type of equipment is more than the other to maintain the state of the existing technical equipment. This also means that the existing postpress equipment can be used continuously.
In fact, the best way to produce a unit structure is to install multiple presses and multiple post-press equipment to maintain job flexibility. Even two printing presses and two post-press equipment can have great benefits.
Finally there is an important piece of advice. As part of the current trend towards digital printing, IPEX2002 will all be related to the workflow, and its attractiveness will be how digital data is processed. However, it is precisely how logistics is organized, ie the actual physical process of printing, will be different from previous printing exhibitions in terms of successfully coping with more intense deadlines and economically handling ever-shortening product cycles. Features.