2006-02-16: Cutting costs - increasing profits ... Rotolito Lombarda...
Rotolito Lombarda equip their extensive web and sheet-fed offset presses with dampening solution filtration units from technotrans

With a turnover of 110 million Euros and 400 employees, the Italian media company Rotolito Lombarda, founded in 1976, is clearly one of the largest printing companies in Italy. In the web offset department, a total of 9 printing units rotate in two 48-page Mitsubishi L-BT1 presses and another 12 in 3 Lithoman IV presses. The sheet-fed offset department has an impressive total of 37 printing units, used in two Komori presses and five KBA presses, three of these in the B7 format. The performance portfolio of the Italian company is divided between three production sites: The Pioltello production site is responsible for prepress services, sheet-fed printing and one and two-colour rotary letterpress printing. The Cernusco site takes care of prepress and multicolour rotary printing of high-volume newspaper supplements. The Capriate production site uses state-of-the-art bookbinding technology to finish the print products.

The continuous growth and success of the company is mainly due to the innovative power of the management. As the company always uses state-of-the-art production equipment in all departments, it can implement modern and highly flexible production processes. Rotolito has realised that varied demands call for varied reactions and this is why the company has been so successful in the Italian and European market for many years.

The company strives for top-level quality in all areas. This is reflected not only in their choice of printing and processing machines, but also in their continuous lookout for new and innovative peripheral equipment. Rotolito has long since realised that the best way to optimise work processes is to focus on the ancillary systems offered by suppliers of the printing press manufacturers.

One of the most recent requirements to be met by Rotolito Lombarda was to achieve a continuous high quality of the dampening solution in order to improve the processes at the Cernusco production site. The media service provider found the perfect solution at the Italian subsidiary of technotrans, the Germany based leading offset printing system supplier.

The consumable-free spinclean.d dampening solution filtration unit is one of the latest developments of the international technology company. The system operates in bypass to the dampening solution circulator and eliminates contaminants in the dampening solution circuit, thus ensuring trouble-free production processes. Rotolito needed to maintain the optimum condition of the dampening solution as long as possible to keep the presses running.

During printing, the dampening solution gradually becomes considerably contaminated due to low-quality paper, ink residue and powders of all kinds. Sludge collects in the dampening trays and tanks and quickly contaminates the entire dampening solution circuit. The press operator is then forced to stop the printing press at regular intervals to empty and clean the circuit. Usually, the used dampening solution is replaced by fresh solution, but the contamination continues at varying speeds depending on the materials used. The spinclean.d dampening solution filtration unit made by technotrans reduces the level of contamination and consequently the necessary cleaning processes without requiring expensive filter material.

The centrifugal separator, which was specifically developed for this purpose, makes use of the difference in density between water as the main component of the dampening solution and the contaminants included in the solution. The spinclean.d unit continuously eliminates the contaminants without affecting the printing process. An integrated pump feeds the contaminated dampening solution from the dampening solution tank of the circulator to the rotating plate-type drum of the separator and, after cleaning, back to the circuit.

As a first step to implement this innovative cleaning system, Rotolito tested a unit on a 64-page rotary offset press at the Cernusco production site. The results convinced first the press operators and then the management of the company. Consequently, five spinclean.d auto units were fitted to the printing presses in Cernusco and Pioltello.

The Pioltello site was also chosen for a pilot test with another dampening solution cleaning unit; the technotrans beta.f fine filtration unit. While the spinclean.d unit has been developed for web offset printing, beta.f is a solution for sheet-fed printing. It also operates in bypass to the dampening solution circulator, but is based on a different filtration system. It uses a two-step filtration method where filter cartridges in a pre-filter thoroughly pre-clean the dampening solution in the first step to relieve the strain on the main filter module. This main filter is then used for intensive cleaning in a powerful deep-bed filter. The quality of the two modules is continuously monitored by integrated pressure sensors. The result of this continuous bypass cleaning process is a perfectly decontaminated dampening solution and a clean system from the dampening solution tank to the dampening solution trays of the printing units.

In Pioltello, two sheet-feed printing presses were chosen for the test. One of the printing presses was equipped with a dampening solution filtration unit, the second one was not. In this case, too, the result was so convincing that the printing company decided to install a total of six beta.f units on their KBA Rapida printing presses. The press operators confirmed that the dampening solution remained clear and clean for a considerably longer period of time and that no cleaning was necessary during long press runs.

Apart from the positive influences on the stability of the printing process and the high level of production safety, one major advantage of the two filtration systems is that they can be retrofitted to nearly all types of dampening solution circulators.

Although income from the production of print products continues to stagnate throughout the entire industry, Rotolito Lombarda proves that they can still increase their profits by consistently selecting optimum peripherals. The stabilisation of the printing process, the drastically reduced press cleaning intervals and the resulting optimisation of the entire production process reduces recurring costs considerably. The investment in a dampening solution filtration system pays for itself after just a short time, so that the cost savings can be quickly transformed into profit. Last, but not least, the improved quality of the final print product provides the ultimate seal of approval.

These press releases contain forward-looking statements which are based on assumptions and estimations by the management board of technotrans AG. Even though the management board is of the opinion, that those assumptions and estimations are realistic the future development and the projected results may deviate substantially from the forward-looking statements. Those deviations can be due to several factors including but not limited to changes in the macro-economic situation, in the exchange rates, in the interest rates and in the graphic arts industry. technotrans AG gives no warranty and does not assume the liability for any damages in case the future development and the projected results do not correspond with the forward looking statements.