Ifra 2000 Heidelberg Press Conference

Jochen Meissner, Vice President Sales and Service
 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
It is my pleasure to welcome you to Heidelberg's booth for this new edition of Ifra.
 
It's hard to believe that it has already been a year since the last Ifra and the preview of the Mainstream press. But what a year it has been. In that time we have taken a big step forward in the newspaper business with the successful drupa introduction of the Mainstream, the first newspaper press featuring gapless tubular blankets.
 
During 14 days in Düsseldorf the Mainstream dazzled tens of thousands of drupa visitors and printed "The Mainstream News" with outstanding results.
 
The success of this revolutionary initiative in the newspaper market was confirmed by the biggest order Heidelberg has ever received at any show. The Telegraph group in the UK ordered seven Mainstream presses, comprising a total of 263 printing couples.
 
This was not only a large order for Heidelberg. It was an endorsement for gapless Sunday Press technology and an acknowledgement that it is the answer to today's newspaper publishing requirements.
 
But, as you can imagine, we didn't plan to stop there!
 
Progressive newspapers are anxious to embrace new production formats that can improve print quality and color, shrink print windows even further, expand and enhance versioning capabilities and increase both productivity and production efficiency.
 
Last year, we presented the Mainstream as the first of the new generation of gapless presses for newspapers. This year, at Ifra, we are proud to announce a new gapless newspaper press to further respond to modern production requirements: the Tristream Let me review some of the highlights of this innovative new press.

• As the name implies, the Tristream is a triple-width press.
  It features a 2 X 6 configuration, and can run at up to 80,000 copies per hour in straight production or 40,000 in collect mode.
• The Tristream is designed to print broadsheet and tabloïd formats.
• Like the Mainstream, the Tristream benefits from all the advantages of Sunday technology. The gapless tubular blankets eliminate mechanical disturbances that occur when blanket gaps meets. The resulting dynamic stability allows us to operate the double development, triple-width cylinders at high speeds in a 2:2 plate to blanket cylinder ratio and to obtain an outstanding printing quality. The blankets can also be changed in under two minutes without removing the web.
• Newspapers have long envisioned the advantages of triple-width production. The Tristream makes that vision a practical reality for the first time ever. While the Tristream prints at double-width speeds, it delivers 50 percent more pages with every cylinder revolution. That means papers can match double-width productivity with 1/3 fewer towers and pasters and a corresponding reduction in floor space.
• Rotary blade or jaw folders accommodate a wide range of products and sections, and with the triple-width configuration, there are shorter web leads.
• Like the Mainstream, the Tristream integrates independent a.c. drives allowing the press to excel at flying edition changes.
• We have also developed a new Contiweb FT flying paster, specifically for the Tristream. It has the capacity to splice rolls up to 2.430 mm wide at 80,000 papers per hour.
• The Omnicon and Omnipage systems, on display here, are also integrated with the Tristream. Omnicon provides complete control at the press, and its revolutionary Omnipage feature automatically recognizes pages on the console.

As you can see, the Tristream press has been conceived with the same concerns as the Mainstream: Faster productivity, more efficient productivity, high print quality in colors, and more versatility. With the Tristream the gapless revolution in newspaper printing continues.
 
As a solution provider we also offer a complete range of mailroom equipment. At Ifra this year, we are presenting our newest postpress innovation: the Magnapak.
 
Like our gapless presses, this inserter is aimed right at the needs of modern newspaper publishers: namely speed, for more timely newspapers, and advanced selective inserting, for more personalized papers.
 
The Magnapak is shaftless, which means its independently driven hoppers can be automatically shifted in and out of production for selective inserting - all without compromising an industry leading speed of up to 30,000 papers per hour. The Magnapak is also expandable from 12 to 80 hoppers, and it accommodates from one to four deliveries.
 
The Cincinnati Enquirer in the United States will be the first newspaper to install Heidelberg's new Magnapak. And this inserter will certainly be a valuable addition to our complete lineup of postpress products and to our integrated newspaper solutions.
 
And last but not least, today, I am also proud to announce two new Mainstream orders in France.

The French companies Rotosud and Rotopicardie, which belong to the French group IPS have just signed a contract for the installation of two Mainstream, one in Lyon at Rotosud Rhône-Alpes and the other one close to Amiens at Rotopicardie : The two presses are identical and each configuration includes four towers, 28 couples, 6 FD pasters and a JF 2:5:5 folder.
 
We are looking forward to a successful partnership between Heidelberg, Roto Sud and Rotopicardie.
 
Thanks for your attention.