About 100 guests were in Northeim to discuss technical issues and hear addresses from a variety of specialists.
“What started off five years ago as a small customer event has now become a major get-together for the industry," says segment head Thomas Perković .
Specialists discussed ways of further improving results in heatset offset. "Heatset is the ultimate in offset printing – for printing blankets as well," says Jan Jungmann, ContiTech’s head of printing blanket research and development. He noted milestones in heatset blanket development, drawing on the example of the company’s new Neon blue TR, which prevents paper from being severely deformed in the nip. This guarantees good register on wide-web paper as well as low machine web tension and low temperatures on the plate and the printing blanket.
Delegates also learned about Nip Control measuring technology from Stefan Wegdell (pictured). Products measure pressure directly in the roller and impression cylinder nip, giving a reading in Newton per square centimetre. "Correctly adjusted rollers can reduce the cost for electric power (by 59 per cent), for ink (by 27 per cent) and fountain solutions (by 15 per cent)," Wegdell says.
Other speakers included Achim Siebert of Weros Technology, who presented a new fluororubber coating which makes rollers smooth and water-repellent. Paper waste is reduced and water consumption cut by 30 per cent with greater stability in alcohol-free wet offset. Cleaning is “a whole lot less work”.
Rob Berndsen of Dutch heatset printing house Senefelder Misset stressed the importance of coordinated processes. The magazine printing house consumes 45 million tons of paper a year, making it important to be able to simultaneously print the same quality on different machines. Printing blankets have an important role to play in all of this. "We are always open for new ideas if a quality improvement can be achieved," he says.
Stefan Kull of Kodak dealt chiefly with process made possible by modern offset plates. Positive plates ensures maximum resolution and thus optimum print definition, while negative plates offered longer service life, he says.
Fabian Köhn, technical director of Siegwerk Druckfarben discussed requirements to be met by heatset inks. Depending on the kind of paper, the amount of ink required can be twice as high, and Köhn says printing houses also had to consider the steep rise in raw material costs for natural resins, an important constituent of printing inks.
ContiTech’s printing blanket centenary celebrations kicked off with a reception, and visit to a new exhibition charting 100 years of printing history. Rounding off the event were a plant tour and golf tournament.
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