MAN Roland Inc.’s plateless DICOweb press has passed muster at Swiss commercial printer Stampfli.

The Bern-based printer has a heatset version of the press, which uses a lithographic system that prints without plates. Instead, it uses an imaging cylinder and laser. The cylinder can be reimaged to print jobs directly from digital data without the need for plate changes.

DICOweb press touted for versatility by Swiss printer.
Photo: MAN Roland

In one test, Stampfli produced a 1,460-page A4 (16.5-inch by 11.6-inch) catalog, printing “considerably more efficiently” than on an eight-page sheetfed press, said Peter Stampfli, a board member of the company that bears his name.

The 16-page DICOweb that’s running at Stampfli sports four double-printing couples and can produce at the rate of 11.4 feet/second. It’s stationed in a new plant that also boasts three sheetfed presses and a toner-based digital printing system.

Stampfli said having a variety of printing systems lets crews match workflow to job requirements. Some jobs, he said, are produced by all three systems.

Stampfli said his firm has conducted nine workshops with more than 60 customers to design workflows that capitalize on the DICOweb’s strengths. One workshop stipulation: “They’re more concerned with dividing a long run into smaller segments, the better to reach targeted groups,” he said.

To satisfy those demands, Stampfli touts the DICOweb, which can be made ready to print a job in less than 30 minutes; form changes within a job can be accomplished in about 15 minutes, he said.

The press can also be used to print jobs with as few as 500 copies, Stampfli said. “Especially in this area, the DICOweb is the best production alternative,” he said.

MAN Roland is installing another heatset DICOweb at MohnMedia AG in Gutersloh, Germany. Heatset and coldset versions of the press are also available in North America.