Mitsubishi has launched a new compact version of its 4x1 DiamondSpirit newspaper press with a range of features tailored to Indian and Asian markets.

Dubbed the DiamondSpirit SA, the 75,000 cph press “At only 4.4 metres high, it is more compact than the current DiamondSpirit and can be installed in plants where 2x1 presses have been installed,” says MHI-PPM printing machinery sales manager Mamoro Ito.

The press’s higher ROI comes from several areas, and is not just a euphemism for a lower pricepoint. Capital costs are reduced by standardising on a 546mm cut-off, 1400 mm web width and the slightly lower top speed, but the new SA offers market-specific features such as a ‘soft stop’ option to avoid webs breaking in the event of power outage. This uses regenerative energy obtained from unit drives to maintain DC power until the press comes to a synchronised and less sudden stop.

Precise web tension control technology and the sophisticated shaftless drive system are expected to contribute to newsprint and electricity savings.

Both 2:2 rotary or 2:3:3 jaw folders are offered, as is a Printplex function which enables the capacity of a double folder to be split between two separate print jobs. With individual towers and reelstands connected separately, the system exploits shaftless technology to allow one press to operate effectively as two.

Mitsubishi’s Diamond Eye closed-loop print quality control system – which compares target prepress data based to actual density readings ‘on the run’ – is also an option. A number of installations, including Kasturi & Sons sites in Chennai, Bangalore and Cochin, already have this option, and some 700 line sensors have been installed on 70 presses worldwide.

Following a showing of the new SA at its Hiroshima plant, Mitsubishi took delegates from the Ifra India Expo to see a new installation of the ‘parent’ DiamondSpirit press producing The Hindu at the Bangalore plant of Kasturi & Sons.