Product Watch: CTP, MIS, W2P, colour control

Vishal’s inventory management: To track consumbles
Mumbai-based Vishal Group (Hall /E-33A), which is in a quest to expand its reach pan-India, with new distributors, has launched an inventory management system, which promises to take care of a print firm’s inventory of consumables offered by the company.

Vishal is an importer and distributor for Flint, Policrom Screens, Varn chemicals and various other consumables for the graphic arts industry. The company registered a turnover of USD 12 million in 2014-15 and serves more than 1,000 customers.

“The new software is targeted at its clients from two-tier and three-tier cities, who depend on us for their entire consumable requirement,” said Sandeep Jajoo of Vishal Group.

The system comprises of browser-based software and a handheld barcode scanner. Every pack of consumable from Vishal comes with a barcode. When a new batch of consumables comes in, the store department has to scan the barcode into the system and when any product is consumed, the barcode needs to be scanned again and the quantity used has to be entered into the system. “This way, the software knows the exact quantity of each consumable available in the storeroom,” Jajoo added.

A minimum of seven days and a maximum of 21 days of inventory is set into the system. “When the quantity of any products reaches its minimum level, the press owner and a representative of Vishal Group are notified with a sms or email. Once the press owner approves, a PO is generated and sent to Vishal automatically and material will be dispatched within 48 hours,” he explained.

Not only this system makes inventory management less of a hassle, but also it allows the press owner to keep a check on his consumable consumption.

“This system is in a beta stage and we are in a process to develop standalone software and mobile app,” he said.

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IDS 3D: Markless closed loop colour control system

IDS 3D markless closed loop colour control system maintains colour consistency according to ISO standards. It is an accessories equipment, which can be installed on various kind of presses like KBA, Manroland ,Mistubishi etc.

QI Press Controls says, it has a history of constantly evolving upon the print controls. Vijay Pandya, managing director of QI Press Control. “We were the first one to launch camera based register control system IRS, for newspaper presses way back in 1996. Q.I. Press Controls was the first one to launch mark less color control system IDS for rotary presses in 2004.”

At Drupa 2012, the company launched mRC-3D register control. With the 3D functionality, it could take care of paper flutter and variable focal distance. In addition, the concept of automatic ink mist shield ensured that the camera lenses are clean all the times, eliminating human dependency. “In same vein, now we are proud to announce one more step forward with IDS – 3D.

What’s the USP? Pandya says, the launch of IDS-3D in PrintPack 2015 means that the market now has its own unique ‘all-in-one’ system. “The very same dual-sensor IDS-3D camera has built-in process algorithms to ensure simultaneous closed-loop corrections, such as, color control, register controls, water controls and fault detection.”

He adds, “The IDS-3D camera signals the end for all previous systems, which used different types of cameras for different functions on rotary presses. As from now there is a single solution for everything: IDS-3D. It’s also an extremely beneficial solution for new presses as well as retrofit upgrades for existing presses.”

In terms of productivity and profitability, Pandya, says, the ultimate result realised by IDS-3D is reproduction with absolute colour and register stability in products independent of job, printing company or press at minimum waste and maximum
efficiency.

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Kodak CTP: Simple, non-specialised
A big number of medium to large commercial printers have installed CTP systems in the last decade or so. According to a market research, thermal is the dominant technology worldwide, but it is especially true in India, where about 85% of plate sales across all segments (in square meters) are thermal. With smaller-end of the print pyramid, who have traditionally started out with polyester or PS plates, are now looking to have high quality, CTP systems, it’s time to look for affordable kit.

Kodak claims that it’s Achieve thermal platesetter is a reliable, value priced CTP System for general commercial printers working in simple, non-specialised printing environments.

The Achieve CTP incorporates Kodak’s latest TH5 thermal imaging technology available in both 4-up and 8-up and can fire 16-22 plates per hour at 2400 dpi plates and can be coupled with Kodak’s Sonora process-free plates. The Kodak Achieve platesetter has been around since 2012 while Sonora plates were launched in India in 2014. According to Kodak, the benefits of TH5 technology are : simplified optics which is focused on removing complexity and high precision mechanics; easy installation and no calibration, power savings of up to 40% among others.

Available as a turn-key systems, Kodak says it is the only graphics manufacturer who controls the manufacturing and development of plates, output devices, workflow and service to ensure optimal system performance and uptime.

The availability of Staccato screening reduces ink consumption. Add to this the benefits that Sonora brings when you completely eliminate any processing or chemistry, and that is a large set of savings as well as environmental benefit.

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Flexi Web to Print: Modify, proof, save
This is a solution for printers that allows their clients clients to modify, proofread and save their Business Stationery, advertisement, Flyer, posters, postcards, brochures, catalogs and much more besides for ordering online directly from Web.

“With Flexi WebTo Print Shop your online print orders are finalised, awarded, monitored and tracked in real-time, through a simple and clutter-free store front interface. Its ability to optimise resources, collaborate with customers, vendors and distributors makes it an indispensable tool for online printing,” says Manoj Kotak of Image Online.

Full-fledged ready to use product was launched by end of the year 2012. Based on customer’s feedback/suggestion the solutions has seen four major upgrades in two year’s time. And upgrade has been launched at the PrintPack show.

So far there are 17 installs in India and two more are in the pipeline, while in the rest of the world the installation number is more than 50, informs, Kotak.

So what’s the USP of the product? “No set-up fee, no binding contract, and easy to try and feel,” responds Kotak. Besides, it’s tablet ready. One can upload own design created using popular desktop publishing software and make it editable in our online editor.

“Print more to earn more, should be the mantra for productivity and profitability,” says Kotak. “Flexi Web to Print is a web-based technology that allows it users to generate high quality,  print-ready files in real-time.  These files can be immediately shared from the web for further processing and printing without using a complicated setting or any layout editing program.  All you need is an internet-enabled computer with a standard web-browser to modify and generate your print orders,” says Kotak.

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Bolt RB 104: Notebook from paper reel
The newly launched fully automatic exercise book machine from Line O Matic, Bolt RB 104, has been designed to make soft cover staple pin exercise notebook online from the paper reel.

With a speed of 500 metres per minute with 60 strokes per minute, the machine can convert up to 20-22 tonne of paper in a day, depending on the grammage. The reel width of Bolt RB104 is 104cm, providing the user with an option of maximum five-ups.

The Bolt RB104 is equipped with an automatic inking and cover piling station. Equipped with a web-guiding system and hydro pneumatic tension control system, the Bolt RB104 has an excellent control over web alignment. “The shaftless unwind reel stand means tension control is better so there are fewer web breaks. The design is also said to make the press easier to operate and allows “top-level” automation features to be incorporated.

Two heavy-duty flexo units on each side of the web enable two-colour printing on both sides of the web. Also, the automatic inking system adds to the simplicity of the process. The machine can handle paper stock from 45 to 75gsm for inner pages while the inserter for pre-printed covers handles 50-600gsm covers. The machine offers 12 wire stitching stations with trim removal unit with blower arrangements.

The special feature about the Bolt RB104 is that it has an embedded Wi-Fi in control panel. This enables the user to operate and control the machine using his laptop.

Manish Panchal of Line O Matic, said, “Parameters like speed of the machine, compressed and dry air pressure, paper reel diameter, cover feeders, supervisor or operator controls for motors and drives, production output etc can be controlled remotely, thanks to this feature.”

In addition, the machine is supplied with inbuilt SMS notification system which sends SMS to maximum four mobile numbers fed into the system on daily basis.

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ParamERP Print MIS: Specific for print
ParamERP Print MIS (Management Information System) is a software system designed for printing organisations by integrating data from all departments and that provides information needed to efficiently run a printing industry and support long term business decisions. “It’s a system designed specifically for the printing organisations,” says Vinod Nawab of Param ERP.

He says, “It provides estimating, job card, inventory to print shop management solutions. In this competitive industry, printers being able to offer best price based on complexity of jobs faster than manual calculations with changing variables on multiple quantities.”

According to Nawab, ParamERP print MIS can be an investment today financially but it has capacity to transform a printing company by showing major bottlenecks, tracking of performances of departments, wastage control and capacity utilisation. “It shows present status of business and helps in decision making for future expansion. In today’s world, automation of the print production processes has become more vital for business growth,” says Nawab.

ParamERP was established in 2007, initially working with two companies –Jaipur Printers and Naidunia Printery. Today it serves over 102 print companies. “We serve print MIS in three versions with the bssic version comprising of one shot planning on either or all of the systems like digital machine, sheet-fed offset and web offset machine. This module has capacity to plan publishing, packaging, commercial and corrugation job in single version. It has been designed to ensure that implementations are smooth, efficient, and cost effective.”

As far as the type of investment is concerned, Nawab says, “The print industry continues to face dynamic change, and internally-built or legacy Print MIS solutions simply can’t match this pace of change. Nevertheless, purchasing or upgrading a print MIS solution is not an inexpensive or quick task—a significant investment is required to fully reap the benefits.”

Nawab concludes, saying, “Advantage with ParamERP is that we have solutions from very low investment to medium investment with features parallel to any competitive product. We have solutions for every budget.”