As a digital bookprinter harnesses the benefits of reel logistics, UK specialist Clays says it will gain more than 800 hours’ uptime a year from automating web changes.

Maker Contiweb says its CD-N non-stop unwinder will keep production rolling on a HP PageWide T260 mono inkjet web at their Bungay, Suffolk site.

Continuous improvement, technical and project manager Andrew Lawrence says one CD-N unwinder is already in use on a larger HP press, running 24/7, with zero-speed splicing saving the approximately ten per cent of the time which would be spent changing paper reels. “With the zero-speed splicing we don’t have to stop the printer to change the paper, so we can reclaim the majority of that time back,” he says. “We’ll be saving somewhere in the region of 840 hours a year.”

Clays prints 150 million books a year, mainly for trade publishers but also serving independent publishers and small start-up businesses.

The unwinders splice a fresh reel of paper to an expiring reel without having to stop printing – a big asset for short, fast-changing jobs – and can send a signal to the press when a splice is coming, including those made by the paper mill, so that print heads can be lifted.