Eighteen months after a DRUPA partnership to create ‘the world’s largest heatset web’, a 160-page Lithoman press has gone live in Wassenberg, Germany.
WKS Druckholding and manroland web systems established the project at the Düsseldorf trade show in May last year. The outcome – based on twin-web 80-page presses – was shown to industry and media at Kraft-Schlötels last week.
WKS manager Ralph Dittmann says the press technology has been approached “purely from the perspective of our customers”, combining the two 80-page presses in a new way, and devising their own conceptions on folding technology.
Following “extensive new designs” at the press supplier, the new press “reflects our technological concepts regarding flexible and economic production,” Dittmann says.
At the event, manroland managing director Eckhard Hoerner-Marass emphasised the “excellent cooperation” with WKS’ “immensely committed” specialists.
“They had very clear ideas on production diversity and the resulting demands on the production process. Our colleagues from sales and design collaborated with WKS in a creative process to draft the press concept,” he says.
WKS has eight manroland webs – ranging from 32 to 80 pages – in Wassenberg and Essen, and has decommissioned several older presses.
The twin-web 160-page press runs at up to 50,000 revolutions per hour, and includes fully-automatic APL plate loading, closed loop systems for fanout, colour and cut-off control. It will mainly produce magazines, catalogues and supplements.
manroland executive sales manager Veit Müller says the two presses are operated together using one cutter module. A newly designed folder superstructure with three formers allows up to 12 paper ribbons. Product options include continuous two-page increments and the combination of two paper stocks, delivering up to 500,000 products an hour.
On our homepage: (from left) Ralph Dittmann, Bert Schoonderbeek (Contiweb), Eugen Viehof (Vibro-Gruppe), Manfred Winkens (Major Wassenberg), Klaus Viehof (Vibro-Gruppe) and Eckhard Hoerner-Marass at the start
Above: Team members gather with the press