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Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 52 with Inline Die Cutting Receives GATF InterTech Award for Technical Innovation

08/04/2004


Heidelberg Sheetfed Division recognized for its advances

Heidelberg is proud to announce it has received the prestigious PIA/ GATF Intertech Award for innova- tion for its Speedmaster SM 52 press with Inline Die Cutting. This is the company's 21st InterTech Award since the program was started in 1978 and this year it was the only offset press that achieved these honors.

The Speedmaster SM 52 D combines offset technology with finishing capabilities, making it the first press on the market to do so. Also leading the industry are the new processes and design that are helping customers lower throughput times and enabled more creative pieces to be done in a single pass. The system is also the first press to utilize a new vacuum system to remove waste directly from the die cylinder and a new process that allows die cutting in wet ink.

Heidelberg's Speedmaster system was chosen by an anonymous committee of industry experts and users for its breakthrough developments in the graphic communications industry in 2004. This year more than 30 entries were submitted by the industry's top manufacturers from which a panel of independent judges awarded only the top 13 technologies.

Designed to meet the needs of small-format commercial markets, a rotary inline die cutting unit for the Speedmaster SM 52 lets printers finish 20-inch work on the press in a single pass at press speed (up to 15,000 sheets per hour). The die cutting unit can handle finishing operations such as scoring, slitting, punching, or perforating. Stocks of any thickness can be finished, up to the maximum that the Speedmaster SM 52 can handle. Dies are mounted with magnets instead of clamps, and waste is removed automatically.

The Speedmaster SM 52 with Inline Die Cutting comes with the Prinect CP2000 Center that can be used to set the register and punching depth with absolute precision from the control console.

Technology Innovation: combination of technologies: offset printing and die cutting in one press

Product innovation:

  • New design of a die cutting unit that can be combined in-line with an offset press
  • Full remote control of the die cylinder - in terms of adjustment for paper thickness and register
  • Automatic waste extraction device and the vacuum system in the die-cylinder
  • Cutouts are removed with a unique technology: in the die are small holes that allow a vacuum from within the magnetic die cylinder to strip the cutout from the sheet. Once the cutout - now attached to the die on the magnetic plate cylinder - reaches the suction hood, the cutout material is picked up by the suction device and transported into a waste container.
Process innovation: die cutting in the wet ink/varnish
So far, most of the finishing operations that are enabled inline on the Speedmaster SM 52 D have been done in a separate step that required the sheets to be dry. In many cases an outdated and depreciated press (e.g. a Heidelberg Original Cylinder) has been used for the die cutting process, adding time due to a relatively slow make-ready and slow running speed. With the Speedmaster SM 52 D, the sheets are finished at the same speed that they are printed - thereby minimizing the inventory and shortening the production time.

For further information:
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Corporate Communications
Hilde Weisser
Tel.: +49 (0)6221 92 50 66
Fax: +49 (0)6221 92 50 46
E-mail: hilde.weisser@heidelberg.com

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