Excel Design & Print Invests in Ryobi Four-Colour

Excel Design & Print, Dewsbury, has announced the purchase and installation of a Ryobi 524GX offset-litho press. The machine was selected as a replacement for the company’s Heidelberg Speedmaster 52, and is already proving a great success by providing a significant increase in production capacity. The press was purchased from long standing business partner and UK Ryobi distributor Apex Digital Graphics, based in Hemel Hempstead.

Commenting on the reasons for the new press, Naeem Vance, Managing Director of Excel Design & Print, said: “The Ryobi 524GX provides us with significantly faster make-ready than our previous press. Speed of make-ready is the critical factor in print production now with run lengths decreasing – it is all about how quickly you can move from job to job. The Ryobi, with its semi-automatic plate loading and ink volume setting software, ensures the fastest possible change from one job to the next. That capability coupled with faster running speed is already providing us with 25% more printing capacity, which simply means that we can print more jobs in a day.”

The company already has computer-to-plate equipment supplied by Apex Digital Graphics. “Apex is an excellent company to work with,” confirmed Naeem Vance. “They de-commissioned the old press and installed the new Ryobi machine very efficiently. Training on the press was also conducted very well and at our convenience.”

The B3-format four-colour Ryobi 524GX is capable of printing up to 15,000 sheets per hour on stocks of up to 0.6mm. The cylinder configuration consists of double diameter impression cylinders and double/triple diameter transfer drums, resulting in only four gripper changes during four-colour process printing, as well as a very smooth sheet path, helping to minimise any possibilities of marking. Double sprung grippers are utilised throughout the machine, and accordingly, even during high-speed operation and heavy solid printing, precise registration accuracy is maintained.

The Ryobi Semi-RPC allows plates to be changed quickly and accurately. The operator merely sets the plate on the positioning pins and presses the button. A plate bending device is unnecessary, as there is no need to bend the plate’s leading or tail edge. Virtually the entire print operation from make-ready through printing can be centrally controlled using the touch panel of the Ryobi PCS-H Printing Control System, helping greatly with make-ready time for changing the paper, cleaning, registration adjustment, colour tone adjustment, dampening volume adjustment, and other tasks when switching jobs. Print quality is continually monitored and maintained by the PDS-E closed-loop inline densitometer. The result is superb operating efficiency for a diverse range of short-run printing.

Founded in 2001, Excel Design & Print employs a team of eight for the design and print production of a wide range of commercial work.