More than 30% increase in productivity

Van den Brande Printing purchased a five-color ROLAND 500 HiPrint at the end of 2011, with a coating module, extended delivery and an infra-red and hot-air drying system. Productivity since then has increased by more than 30% and the quality is noticeably better. “Any printing company that works with manroland once will always work with manroland.”

Van den Brande Printing (www.vandenbrande.be) in Pulderbos, near Zandhoven, is a family business with 13 employees. It carries the slogan “Our presses work to lighten your work pressure” and manroland is honored that, in turn, it has been able to lighten the workload of Manager Walter Van den Brande and his team, for many years. Van den Brande has various machines from the manroland range gracing the workshop floors, a new Fujifilm Luxel V6 plate-setter with XMF workflow, a Wohlenberg 92 cutting machine and recently a five-color ROLAND 300 sheetfed press.

100 million sheets

Late in 2011, manroland delivered a new printing press to Van den Brande. “For eight years, we were extremely happy with our ROLAND 305, but it was time for an update. When, with the help of manroland, we were able to sell the 305 for the right price, so the investment in a new printing press was more than justified."

Coating module

Following on was the five-color ROLAND 500 HiPrint, complete with coating module, extended delivery and integrated infra-red and hot-air drying system. “The coating module is especially important for us. Nowadays, clients aren’t happy if we can only deliver the next day; they want their printing straight away. With the coating module, we are able to produce shorter runs more quickly – our perfecting is faster, we have less marking, etc. We were a little apprehensive about cleaning the coating unit but eventually it all went quickly and smoothly, and with the new coating module we are also able to enhance our lighter paper stocks.”

Inline perforations and punching

There is a MAG-In inline perforation system integrated in the coating unit. Walter Van den Brande says “We used to work with a system that slices perforations. With long runs, we always needed to check whether the perforations were up to standard. The new MAG-In system works considerably better: the perforations are always perfect, even with high numbers of impressions. With the MAG-In, we are also able to do inline punching and will soon be organizing a series of tests. MAG-In will be coming across from Germany especially for it.”

30% more productivity

Improved productivity and shorter delivery times were always the primary goals when purchasing the five-color ROLAND 500 HiPrint. Walter Van den Brande: “manroland promised us a 30% increase in productivity. And the press definitely delivered – we even do better than 30%.”Everything about the new press is designed for speed. Walter Van den Brande: “Thanks to CIP4, we have been able to cut the preparation times in half”. With the PressManager Smart Online software, the ink keys can be set online based on pre-press data. With the PPL system (Power Plate Loading), the plates are automatically clamped and there are numerous other options. The ROLAND 500 HiPrint has a standard speed of up to 16,000 sheets per hour, with the Premium Speed option, optimised air tracks, sheet guidance, double sheet detection, etc., a speed of up to 18,000 sheets per hour is child’s play.

And the quality?

You would think that with these speeds, there would be a drop in the quality of the print. Walter Van den Brande: “Not at all. It’s actually the opposite. With the double sized cylinders, we have been able to print sharper quality than before. The general printing quality is noticeably better. Thanks to the ColorPilot option, the colours are constant, even with less human input.”

Choose manroland

“I must admit,” says Walter Van den Brande, “that before I chose the new press, together with my press staff, I looked at other brands besides manroland. My press staff had considerable experience with other names and unanimously convinced me to choose the ROLAND, despite the price difference. And they’re all extremely happy with the new press. Any printing company that works with manroland once will always work with manroland.”

About manroland sheetfed

manroland sheetfed GmbH (www.manroland-sheetfed.com) began trading on 10 February 2012, following the acquisition of the sheetfed division of the insolvent manroland AG by British industrialist Tony Langley and Langley Holdings PLC ( www.langleyholdings.com). manroland sheetfed employs around 1000 people at the HQ in Offenbach Germany and over 2000 staff worldwide in over 40 subsidiaries.

“The people at manroland promised us a 30% increase in productivity. And the press definitely delivered – we even do better than 30%!”