It could have been the new ink comprised of nanoparticles, or the hi-tech imaging blanket, or any number of mechanical challenges in bringing Nanography to market. But the delay in commissioning the active quality management (AQM) caught Benny Landa by surprise.
The joint Landa, EFI, AVT and Techkon system has lagged the rest of the development of the innovative new presses that had a first customer beta site installation this week. The SP10 Nanopress at Graphica Bezalel is not equipped with an operative AQM system, which has proved to be more of a challenge than its creators imagined.
The AQM is designed to automatically scan each printed sheet, identify defects such as colour consistency, registration, missing nozzles, in real time and initiate corrective action without any operator intervention. It’s the final piece in the jigsaw to deliver consistent quality from the new press systems. An integral part of the innovative Landa ‘cockpit’ control center, it’s part of a raft of job management and press controls.
While professing themselves pleased with the quality being produced by the press without AQM, the Landa team is focused on getting over the last hurdle. At the company’s first customer event in Israel this week, Landa confessed his surprise that the software has proved to be the final part to come online.
“I thought it might be the ink or the blankets. After all we’re building a new press system from scratch here. But it turns out the AQM is where we still need to do most of the work,” he said.
Yishai Amir, chief executive officer, Landa Digital Printing, is confident the system will be operational in time to be installed on the next two presses going to Germany and the USA before the end of the year. The closed-loop defect inspection will also be retrofitted onto the first press.
It’s likely the sheer amount of processing power required to scan every sheet at the rated speed of 6,500 B1- size sheets per hour has tested the limits of the developing partners’ technology. EFI is providing the RIP, Techkon the color testing and AVT the quality inspection system.
The Nanopress technology is designed to digitally print on any standard offset substrate without coatings or treatment. The ability to identify artifacts or registration issues in the finished sheet, whether from the substrate of the press, is essential for the consistent quality levels printers expect. With an operating AQM, substandard sheets are identified and removed from the delivery while the press parameters are corrected in real time.
