According to RMGT sources, the theme of the exhibition simply means that seamless integration of staff, machinery and systems, RMGT’s smart factory of the future responds to accelerating market trends with an ideal production system that flexibly meets changing demand. The automated and labor saving presses of tomorrow will enhance printing quality and shorten lead times, while utilising IoT and cloud technologies for real-time visualisation of press operating conditions and remote problem diagnosis to minimise downtime if a problem occurs. Within the print shop, advanced robot systems handle the transport of paper, printed sheets, etc. to the next process, as well as the repetitive work of loading and unloading.

According to Vinay Kaushal, director, Provin Technos, which represents RMGT in India, the company’s automation and labour saving technologies free operators from a wide range of time-consuming and labour-intensive tasks, enabling printing companies to capitalise on their expertise and maximise their potential. RMGT’s vision is of a world where machines and technologies are designed around people for a higher level of creativity and efficiency.

RMGT belongs to the Ryobi Group, which produces die-cast products for the automotive industry and employs hundreds of industrial robots to perform casting, product inspection and other tasks. Capitalising on these strengths, RMGT has tied up with a number of global robot manufacturers to develop collaborative robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and robot systems for handling and transporting paper, supplies, work in progress, finished products, and other materials within the print shop, providing cost-efficient solutions to the growing problem of manpower constraints.

“RMGT is proposing a smart factory that establishes a new relationship between humans and robots based on the concepts of ‘from robot-to-robot without human participation,’ and ‘from robot-to-robot in collaboration with humans’,” Kaushal added.

Meanwhile, visualisation of production and machinery conditions is the first step toward improving productivity in the print shop. RMGT is proposing systems and services that employ IoT and cloud technologies for the smart factory of the future, including the RMGT press information cloud that enables press operating conditions and productivity indicators to be remotely monitored in real time, and the RMGT remote maintenance service for minimising press downtime due to mechanical problems.

The RMGT press information cloud enables visualisation of the operating conditions of multiple presses in a print shop. The number of pages printed per minute, machine downtime, and other productivity indicators can be remotely monitored in real time, enabling prompt action to be taken for maximising productivity.

Using IoT devices, the RMGT remote maintenance system enables problems with a printing company’s presses to be remotely viewed at the RMGT service control centre for promptly identifying a problem’s location and cause and implementing corrective measures, minimising downtime without a service call. In addition to helping printing companies meet delivery deadlines thanks by shortening press downtime, this also relieves operator anxiety when a problem occurs.

“The IGAS exhibits will include a 1,020/1,050mm format six-colour offset press with new functions, such as parallel processing for shortening makeready time plus a retractable coating unit that enables makeready tasks for coating to be performed simultaneously during printing; an A1-size eight-colour convertible perfector that further reduces makeready time in addition to performing instant-drying perfecting; and an A3-size portrait format envelope printing system,” Kaushal said.

All of the presses are equipped with the LED-UV printing system that RMGT led the world in introducing in 2008.