$1.57 m control upgrade gives PMP's 15-year-old directory presses new life

PMP Print has upgraded three of the older directory presses at its Chullora, NSW, print site with automated ink and closed-loop colour controls in a $1.57 million deal with Israeli developer GMI. The 2032 mm web-width Harris N-9000 coldset presses – originally installed in 1994 – have been equipped with GMI’s Microcolor II desks and ColorQuick ink density colour control systems, supported by a CIP3 interpreter to enable prepress data to be used for press presetting. The installations follow a new printing contract for directories which will be printed on the presses, and a relationship between the two companies which has seen a total of 16 GMI systems installed at PMP’s four other Australian sites. GMI was acquired by packaging press controls specialist AVT in October 2007, and the two have been working since to develop new combined technologies. AVT has advanced image analysis it is applying to GMI closed loop colour controls for commercial web and newspaper market segments. PMP’s national technical manager Jeremy Boreham says there were three major objective in the upgrade – to provide more consistent and repeatable output, savings in materials, and data capture to enable printing to standards. “With savings in start-up waste as well as running waste, the solutions deliver an outstanding return on investment,” he says. The integrated approach includes conversion of prepress data into digital ink-key presets which are managed by the Microcolor II remote ink controls. The colour controls use digital servo motors – each of which has its own microprocessor – to deliver fine control, claimed to be less than a one per cent increment for light coverage, and larger moves for heavy coverage. On a run, a press-mounted spectrophotometer collects spectral colour data and uses it to control ink density and other parameters. GMI president Gal Shamri says the order demonstrates the benefits of installing the system on legacy presses, “extending their lives and transforming them into modern, efficient units delivering high quality colour print”. As one of the largest heatset web printers in Australasia, PMP prints four billion catalogues, 120 magazines, 30 million directories and 24 million books a year.