A Second Youth for Old Printing Presses
To save paper, costs and lifetime of presses, the Dutch company Q.I. Press Controls developed an innovative smart pre-setting technology. The self-learning software is even able to make older printing presses more durable and future-proof.
The Netherlands based company Q.I. Press Controls (QIPC) recently created a new smart pre-setting to prolong the life of older printing presses. The innovative feature promises to save an extra of 150 to 200 copies with each press start-up.
Savings from the Beginning
QIPC-EAE (Q.I. Press Controls – Engineering Automation Electronics) is already famous for helping to optimize performance on old and new printing presses for years. Their new smart pre-setting aims to improve especially the performance of older printing presses without buying new hardware. It regulates the ink keys and furthermore the amount of damp with a self-learning software.
“In this way, 150 to 200 copies can easily be saved during start-up,”
says QIPC director Menno Jansen.
Satisfied Costumers and Durable Presses
One of QIPC’s costumers is Auckland-bases NZME, which prints the New Zealand Herald as well as other products. As they’re often switching between three presses and therefore have to add a new, cold tower for the next production, there was a big imbalance between hot and cold towers. With the smart pre-setting software, the company does have a much better control of the start-ups. It recognizes the hot and cold towers by itself and regulates the damp for the next start-up. A major advantage of the press control through the software is, that the partly 20 years old printing presses can still compare with modern machines and therefore become future-proof. But it is not only the technology making QIPC such successful:
“The support from QIPC is perfect, with it helping that our night is their day. This allows us to have direct contact with QIPC during our production,”
says Russel Wick, Production Manager at NZME.
Ronald Web Offset and Prakash Offset Supply, both Indian press manufactures, even went a step further. The smart-pre-setting became an essential part of their new presses right from the beginning. For them it is very important to have new presses with a controlled and consistent print quality, in order to save paper and to enable their customers to instate their staff more efficiently as the software undertakes the controlling and regulation.
“For them, this is a part they don’t really have to take into account. We solve it for them. Both press manufacturers and end users of the press want to get maximum performance from the machines. They are satisfied with the performance of our systems and the support we also offer,”
says Rakesh Dave, managing director of QIPC-EAE India.
Fine-Tuning and Service Support
As the fine-tuning of such a software requires a lot of engagement and time, QIPC is always in contact with its clients and tries to adapt their systems related to the costumers needs.
What are your experiences with press control technologies? Which benefits did they offer for your daily business? Leave us a comment!