Manroland’s Kevin Neureuter: Labor Issues Are Driving Sheetfed Offset Press Automation

(The desire to automate and refine processes in sheetfed offset printing is driven by several factors, including the absence of qualified labor, reduction of touches, and efforts to minimize waste. In the past several years, press manufacturers have added and refined tools to make the sheetfed offset process much more efficient, and to achieve higher-quality, more repeatable results. This article concludes our series of interviews with representatives from the leading sheetfed press manufacturers.)

Asked what is driving automation the most in the sheetfed offset space, Kevin Neureuter, director of sales for the U.S. and Canada at Manroland Sheetfed, says he believes it’s labor issues. “Our industry, as well as others, are struggling with labor.” Not only can automated systems make the presses operable by less experienced workers, he points out, logistics systems to move the stacks to and from the press can remove the burden of physical strain.

For on-press activities such as plate loading, automation has delivered significant savings in makeready, with Neureuter stating it can be reduced from around 14 minutes to as little as three. This allows for a gain in productive time on-press. He says print services providers (PSPs) are also seeing strong returns from in-line ColorPilot and related color monitoring systems. These systems, he says, can bring enhanced quality, fewer rejections, and thus more profitability.

Neureuter says Manroland sheetfed presses manufactured for the U.S. market are sold with many available automation systems as “standard” features. A lot of the variability in choices among automation is in logistics systems, the need for which is often variable based on a PSP’s standard run lengths and available production space. The automation systems getting the most use today, he notes, are in-line color monitoring systems, synchronous plate loading, and logistics. The recent interest in logistics systems are partially due to the ongoing effort to minimize reliance on labor.

ROI on automation systems is difficult to determine, according to Neureuter. Factors contributing (or not) to ROI include the age and features of the press being replaced, the degree to which the new systems are used, and the nature of the work performed by an individual PSP. Also, the systems must be used. He says it is not uncommon for printers to have “the ability to automatically line up jobs, but they’re still not using [the tools].”

For companies looking to make their first purchase of a press with high-level automation capabilities, Neureuter says in-line color control “is absolutely the Number One thing that will help them.”

Software, he says has become ubiquitous across the process. Consistency between machines must be considered to, particularly in the use of color profiles. To continue to operate as expected, software needs to be updated frequently, so staying on top of updates helps keep processes running smoothly. Finally, he says software has enabled the collection of remote diagnostics about the press, allowing equipment manufacturers and technicians to access data on how the press is being used and how well it is performing.

Neureuter says that of the automation improvements offered by Manroland in the past year, he is most excited about the company’s in-line ColorPilot system, which includes a spectrophotometer. He says the company is currently working on automation advancements to improve plate loading on coating units, and other enhancements that will be ready in time for drupa 2024.