Future of printing at RMGT open house in Japan

At its open house in Japan in January, RMGT showcased three new technologies: the LED UV, tandem perfector and simultaneous plate changer. Rahul Kumar, who attended the event, provides the details

26 Jun 2011 | By Rahul Kumar

The Japanese sheetfed offset giant Ryobi MHI Graphic Technology (RMGT) organised a daylong open house in its manufacturing facility at Fukuyama, Japan on 19 January 2018 to showcase three of its offerings. The open house was attended by 96 guests from 13 countries, including India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China, Mexico, among others. 
 
Among these, the first demo of the 10 series tandem perfector press (RMGT 1050TP-1+8+UV coating) showcased one pass both side printing for high-quality packaging printing at the speed of 16,200 sheets per hour. The second demo of 10 series (RMGT 1050 LX-6 + double coater) showcased 17,100 (optional) sheets per hour printing with inline quality control system (PQS-D). The third demo of 9 series (RMGT 920PF-8) LED UV printing press showcased A4x16-page convertible perfector with inline quality control system (PQS-D) at the speed of 13,000 sheets per hour.
 
While RMGT came into existence four years ago in January 2014, it was built on a strong technology backbone, thanks to the respective strengths of Ryobi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery, a joint venture between which resulted in RMGT. Four years later, the demonstration at the open house signal’s RMGT focus on future innovations in the field of LED UV and packaging printing. 
 
Today, RMGT is a 100-million Japanese Yen (JPY) capitalisation company with sales turnover of 28 billion JPY in 2017-18 manufactures more than 330 multi-colour printing presses per annum. India contributes to 4% of its business.
 
RMGT believes that LED-UV is the future, and being the inventor of the technology, it has advantages and better understanding of the technology. According to Vinay Kaushal, director, Provin Technos, the agency which represents the company in India, the RMGT solutions target three points – maximum productivity by minimised operators, people-friendly printing with easier operation and automated features and implementation of LED-UV technology.
During the open house, Katsushi Hirokawa, president, RMGT, confirmed: “We are committed to building relationships of trust not only with customers, but also with printing unions and associations, materials and peripheral device manufacturers, representatives and others who are involved in printing industry. Since our inception, we are working towards producing better printing presses to strengthen our customers so that they can produce their desired jobs.”
 
Hirokawa elaborated by adding that RMGT has developed its printing presses considering the global trends – extremely small-lot, various kinds of jobs and quick delivery; drop in printing margins; less experienced press operators and the increased cost of human resources, and concerns for better environment.
 
The strategy is already in works. As Kaushal confirmed, Provin Technos has sold more than 62 printing presses in India in the last three years. As most of these customers come from commercial and books printing backgrounds, he says, the company invited its customers to the open house to showcase the strength of its printing presses in terms of fast turnaround, multiple automatic features, from 0.2 to 1.2mm (G/micro flute) thick substrate printing, double-side printing in one go and compatibility of LED-UV technology. 12 printers from different parts of the country attended event.
 
If the idea was to inspire its existing customers to invest again, it definitely worked, as, during the open house, Provin inked a deal for an RMGT 790 four-colour with coater printing press with one of its existing customers, Surat-based Shilp Art.
 
Advantage Japan
The production facility in Fukuyama (a 40-minute drive from the hotel) is on a hill terrain which can very well serve as an example of how to utilise such terrains in architecture. Surrounded by green, the facility has no boundary marker. The parking lot is at the back. While heavy machines, including CNC and others, were in operation inside the building, from outside, it’s hard to imagine it as a production facility. The building has been designed in such a way that all gases, fumes and other wastes were dumped inside.
The facility has two parts – ancillary equipment manufacturing and assembling unit. Each machine has a dedicated operator, and the person’s photograph is attached to the machine. According to RMGT, it gives sense of ownership to the operator and it is a helpful tool to increase his/her productivity. 
 
The first demo
The first demo of the day was of one-pass both side printing for high-quality packaging on the 10 series RMGT tandem perfector press. 
 
Simply put, printing presses are either straight (one side printing) or perfector (which can print on both sides in one go). Most perfector presses are conventional, the problem with which is that pages flip. As a result, printers need to keep gripper margins on both sides and grain directions of the paper also needs to be changed. Until 2003 or so, there was also a limitation on thickness of paper and printing speed on the conventional perfector. 
 
Heatset web offset printing press was an option for high quality and long-run printing jobs at that time. It was feasible because jobs runs were long. Post-2003, run lengths started going down and heatset presses became unviable. 
 
The next option was to do the job in two passes. Printers found conventional perfector suitable for normal books printing. High quality printing for packaging was an issue because of smudging gas printing inks do not dry immediately in sheetfed offset.
 
Then Mitsubishi came up with tandem perfector, where printing units are completely reversed. The advantage is that paper is not flipped and travels in one direction only. RMGT is the only manufacturer which manufactures tandem perfector in this design. The advantage of this design is that printing happens on one side in one go. The expansion is only on the same direction, so there is no chance of colour variation. 
 
The new tandem perfectors are a perfect fit for high quality and long-run jobs. The design of the machine is enhanced by LED-UV by instant curing. All kind of configuration is available according to jobs requirement. The tandem perfector is for dedicated jobs and the applications are fixed on this machine. Since there is no reversal of paper, the printing speed is maintained. 
 
During the demo, RMGT showcased the capability of the technology in three machines, for speciality printing, for packaging printing and for publication and high-end commercial jobs. 
 
However, it looks like, the Indian market will take time to upgrade to such a level, as in India, special fixed application jobs are not much. Top packaging printers do such jobs but the number is less. It is likely that the technology will come to India in the next couple of years and once the utilisation of the press reaches 60%, printers may opt for this technology. 
 
If a printer requires five lakh of double-sided printing and his machine capability is 30 lakh, then usability of the press is around 18%. Under the circumstances, investment in a tandem perfector doesn’t make sense, as a printer can print such kind of jobs with a multi-colour and a single-colour press in two passes. Once the requirement reaches 20 lakh or more sheets per month then the printer could opt for tandem perfector. 
 
Blister packaging is the best example where both side packaging is compulsory, like toothpaste and other cosmetic products. Gillette, Duracell and others are best examples of that application. On top there is multi-colour printing and on back mono-printing containing information of the production. It can also be used to stop counterfeiting. 
 
The other segment for tandem is high-end commercial printing.
Mitsubishi had a blanket-to-blanket printing press way back in 1985. It was single colour press and used to print on both sides. There was no demand of such kind of machines nowadays but every publisher has one or two such machines (pre-owned), it keeps printing small runs. 
 
The second demo
In the second demo, RMGT showcased the standard packaging press with PQS-D system. This should 100% benefit Indian printers, where densities are measured in close loop without any manual intervention. It automatically takes the measurement after printing of every 30 sheets and auto adjusts the variables according to given parameters. It automatically scans the full sheet during the operation. No manual intervention is required. Thus, the consistency is far superior. Once a printer achieves densities, the printing press maintains it.
 
This is achieved with a combination of software and hardware. The hardware measures the corrections and software adjust them accordingly. A mounted camera on the press finds the faults. The system is machine-specific. 
 
If the technology finds a dot of 0.5x0.5mm, it will show the printed sheet as defective. The technology is especially suitable for pharma packaging.
 
Speed is not a problem. Mitsubishi launched a 16,000-sheet/hour machine in 2000. In 2007, Mitsubishi came with the V series. Then the company focused on productivity enhancement features and waste reduction features. Around 80 features were introduced. 
 
The third demo
The third demo during the open house, the RMGT 920 with convertible perfector, was for books and publication printers. It is an eight-colour perfector press and showcased how it can help a printer by producing eight-up A4 jobs in 20x36-inches compared to 28x40 printing presses. The press can print 16-up in one go. 
LED-UV makes it more beneficial. A printer can do high quality commercial jobs on it because of instant drying. On a conventional perfector earlier, it was not possible to mount drying unit in between the press. If someone really wanted to do it then he had to put cylinder expansion which made the press really expensive.
It looks like the India market will adopt this technology fast. New Delhi-based Sanjay Printer has already installed such a press. It is a straight four-colour/2x2 straight perfector.
 

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The Japanese sheetfed offset giant Ryobi MHI Graphic Technology (RMGT) organised a daylong open house in its manufacturing facility at Fukuyama, Japan on 19 January 2018 to showcase three of its offerings. The open house was attended by 96 guests from 13 countries, including India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China, Mexico, among others. 
Among these, the first demo of the 10 series tandem perfector press (RMGT 1050TP-1+8+UV coating) showcased one pass both side printing for high quality packaging printing at the speed of 16,200 sheets per hour. The second demo of 10 series (RMGT 1050 LX-6 + double coater) showcased 17,100 (optional) sheets per hour printing with inline quality control system (PQS-D). The third demo of 9 series (RMGT 920PF-8) LED UV printing press showcased A4x16-page convertible perfector with inline quality control system (PQS-D) at the speed of 13,000 sheets per hour.
While RMGT came into existence four years ago in January 2014, it was built on a strong technology backbone, thanks to the respective strengths of Ryobi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Printing & Packaging Machinery, a joint venture between which resulted in RMGT. Four years later, the demonstration at the open house signal’s RMGT focus on future innovations in the field of LED UV and packaging printing. 
Today, RMGT is a 100-million Japanese Yen (JPY) capitalisation company with sales turnover of 28 billion JPY in 2017-18 manufactures more than 330 multi-colour printing presses per annum. India contributes to 4% of its business.
RMGT believes that LED-UV is the future, and being the inventor of the technology, it has advantages and better understanding of the technology. According to Vinay Kaushal, director, Provin Technos, the agency which represents the company in India, the RMGT solutions target three points – maximum productivity by minimised operators, people-friendly printing with easier operation and automated features and implementation of LED-UV technology.
During the open house, Katsushi Hirokawa, president, RMGT, confirmed: “We are committed to building relationships of trust not only with customers, but also with printing unions and associations, materials and peripheral device manufacturers, representatives and others who are involved in printing industry. Since our inception, we are working towards producing better printing presses to strengthen our customers so that they can produce their desired jobs.”
Hirokawa elaborated by adding that RMGT has developed its printing presses considering the global trends – extremely small-lot, various kinds of jobs and quick delivery; drop in printing margins; less experienced press operators and the increased cost of human resources, and concerns for better environment.
The strategy is already in works. As Kaushal confirmed, Provin Technos has sold more than 62 printing presses in India in the last three years. As most of these customers come from commercial and books printing backgrounds, he says, the company invited its customers to the open house to showcase the strength of its printing presses in terms of fast turnaround, multiple automatic features, from 0.2 to 1.2mm (G/micro flute) thick substrate printing, double-side printing in one go and compatibility of LED-UV technology. 12 printers from different parts of the country attended event.
If the idea was to inspire its existing customers to invest again, it definitely worked, as during the open house, Provin inked a deal for a RMGT 790 four-colour with coater printing press with one of its existing customers, Surat-based Shilp Art.
Advantage Japan
The production facility in Fukuyama (a 40-minute drive from the hotel) is on a hill terrain which can very well serve as an example of how to utilise such terrains in architecture. Surrounded by green, the facility has no boundary marker. The parking lot is at the back. While heavy machines, including CNC and others, were in operation inside the building, from outside, it’s hard to imagine it as a production facility. The building has been designed in such a way that all gases, fumes and other wastes were dumped inside.
The facility has two parts – ancillary equipment manufacturing and assembling unit. Each machine has a dedicated operator, and the person’s photograph is attached to the machine. According to RMGT, it gives sense of ownership to the operator and it is a helpful tool to increase his/her productivity. 
The first demo
The first demo of the day was of one-pass both side printing for high quality packaging on the 10 series RMGT tandem perfector press. 
Simply put, printing presses are either straight (one side printing) or perfector (which can print on both sides in one go). Most perfector presses are conventional, the problem with which is that pages flip. As a result, printers need to keep gripper margins on both sides and grain directions of the paper also needs to be changed. Until 2003 or so, there was also a limitation on thickness of paper and printing speed on the conventional perfector. 
Heatset web offset printing press was an option for high quality and long-run printing jobs at that time. It was feasible because jobs runs were long. Post-2003, run lengths started going down and heatset presses became unviable. 
The next option was to do the job in two passes. Printers found conventional perfector suitable for normal books printing. High quality printing for packaging was an issue because of smudging gas printing inks do not dry immediately in sheetfed offset.
Then Mitsubishi came up with tandem perfector, where printing units are completely reversed. The advantage is that paper is not flipped and travels in one direction only. RMGT is the only manufacturer which manufactures tandem perfector in this design. The advantage of this design is that printing happens on one side in one go. Expansion is only on the same direction, so there is no chance of colour variation. 
The new tandem perfectors are a perfect fit for high quality and long-run jobs. The design of the machine is enhanced by LED-UV by instant curing. All kind of configuration is available according to jobs requirement. The tandem perfector is for dedicated jobs and the applications are fixed on this machine. Since there is no reversal of paper, printing speed is maintained. 
During the demo, RMGT showcased the capability of the technology in three machines, for speciality printing, for packaging printing and for publication and high-end commercial jobs. 
However, it looks like, the Indian market will take time to upgrade to such a level, as in India, special fixed application jobs are not much. Top packaging printers do such jobs but the number is less. It is likely that the technology will come to India in the next couple of years and once the utilisation of the press reaches 60%, printers may opt for this technology. 
If a printer requires five lakh of double sided printing and his machine capability is 30 lakh, then usability of the press is around 18%. Under the circumstances, investment in a tandem perfector doesn’t make sense, as a printer can print such kind of jobs with a multi-colour and a single-colour press in two passes. Once the requirement reaches 20 lakh or more sheets per month then the printer could opt for tandem perfector. 
Blister packaging is the best example where both side packaging is compulsory, like toothpaste and other cosmetic products. Gillette, Duracell and others are best examples of that application. On top there is multi-colour printing and on back mono-printing containing information of the production. It can also be used to stop counterfeiting. 
The other segment for tandem is high-end commercial printing.
Mitsubishi had a blanket-to-blanket printing press way back in 1985. It was single colour press and used to print on both sides. There was no demand of such kind of machines nowadays but every publisher has one or two such machines (pre-owned), it keeps printing small runs. 
The second demo
In the second demo, RMGT showcased the standard packaging press with PQS-D system. This should 100% benefit Indian printers, where densities are measured in close loop without any manual intervention. It automatically takes the measurement after printing of every 30 sheets and auto adjusts the variables according to given parameters. It automatically scans the full sheet during the operation. No manual intervention is required. Thus, the consistency is far superior. Once a printer achieves densities, the printing press maintains it.
This is achieved with a combination of software and hardware. The hardware measures the corrections and software adjusts them accordingly. A mounted camera on the press finds the faults. The system is machine-specific. 
If the technology finds a dot of 0.5x0.5mm, it will show the printed sheet as defective. The technology is especially suitable for pharma packaging.
Speed is not a problem. Mitsubishi launched a 16,000-sheet/hour machine in 2000. In 2007, Mitsubishi came with the V series. Then the company focused on productivity enhancement features and waste reduction features. Around 80 features were introduced. 
The third demo
The third demo during the open house, the RMGT 920 with convertible perfector, was for books and publication printers. It is an eight-colour perfector press and showcased how it can help a printer by producing eight-up A4 jobs in 20x36-inches compared to 28x40 printing presses. The press can print 16-up in one go. 
LED-UV makes it more beneficial. A printer can do high quality commercial jobs on it because of instant drying. On a conventional perfector earlier, it was not possible to mount drying unit in between the press. If someone really wanted to do it then he had to put cylinder expansion which made the press really expensive.
It looks like the India market will adopt this technology fast. New Delhi-based Sanjay Printer has already installed such a press. It is a straight four-colour/2x2 straight perfector.n