Installation of the second large plate logistics system for German publisher DUO starts next month.

The Nela system in Weingarten complements that in nearby Ulm – see GXpress story. Highly-automated manroland Colorman autoprint presses at both sites replace older equipment.

Delivery of print-ready plates at the Druckhaus Ulm-Oberschwaben sites is direct to plate stations at the upper and lower levels of the new presses, via a fully automatic sorting system using Nela’s PlateFlow software.

General manager Ernst Jackwert says realising “a very ambitious timeframe” for print production is one of the most important requirements of the project. DUO prints highly-editionised daily titles, plus weeklies and special editions.

The presses have manroland’s APL robotic plate loading systems and will run at full speed. Jackwert says it is essential that all imaged plates and blanks are delivered to the correct unit, and are sorted according to location on the cylinders. “This is the only way to make certain that plates are always provided in time for loading into the APL cassettes,” he says.

At the Weingarten site, Nela is installing two 360-pph VCPevolution HS 800 punch-benders. Early next year, these will be connected with transport conveyors and vertical plate lifts to two 26-bin plate sorters at the two press levels.

Central to the system is a four-metre high storage unit – which can load and discharge up to 800 pph – to ensure print-ready plates and blanks are presented in exactly the sequence needed on press.

At the stacker, all plates for one cylinder are placed in a single bin. At Weingarten, three groups of bins at each level – called plate stations – will hold plates for three complete press changes.

PlateFlow software interfaces to the manroland PECOM system, controlling the delivery of plates, and monitoring status through bin occupancy sensors. Free bins are combined to a new plate station which is then again assigned to the next print job. The system also signals imaging of the next job.