Magazine printer reduces makeready with KBA plate technology

W&G Baird has said it has decreased downtime while maintaining the quality of its short-run magazine work by specifying KBA's DriveTronic Simultaneous Platechanging (SPC) technology for its new B1 perfector press.
The Antrim-based magazine and four-colour commercial printer is running the system on its 10-colour Rapida B1 press to improve the flexibility of its smaller jobs.DriveTronic SPC is a software-based system that allows press cylinders to be aligned with plates changed simultaneously without the need for additional mechanical involvement.The process synchronises wash-up with other functions, which is claimed to help reduce in overall makeready time.Managing director Henderson Allan said that while improving productivity and reducing unit costs is important, the challenge was to achieve that "while handling shorter runs and maintaining or even improving quality".He said: "These savings are vital when magazine run lengths dictate more job changes per shift."To deliver those shorter runs within the required cost parameters we need to be able to reduce the downtime on the presses as much as possible."W&G Baird, which was established in 1862, serves clients in the UK and Ireland.