It wasn’t long ago that Friesens celebrated a milestone in its history when they added the world’s largest perfecting press at 73 inches wide to its fleet of offset presses. Friesens has seen many production improvements of over 300% from the XXL, and is continuing to invest in cutting-edge technology for 2018 with Canada’s most automated 41-inch press. The new Evolution from Manroland Sheetfed begins installation in the early Spring at Friesens’ Altona, Manitoba facility. Founded in 1907, Friesens is one of the top book printing facilities in North America. However, its abilities also include one of its more recent divisions, think4D, which specializes in tactile packaging – a growing sector of its business that also compliments it book production and existing packaging capabilities.
To keep up with the growing needs of its clients, it once again turned to Manroland Sheetfed to deliver a high-speed perfecting press with the industry’s fastest job turnover capabilities – the Evolution. Equipped with SAPL autonomous and simultaneous make-ready feature, Friesens can now exchange plates in under one minute while simultaneously washing up the press. However, another key ability of the press, also pioneered by Mamroland, lies in colour control science exclusive to Manroland Sheetfed in the form of its InlineColorPilot system.
“We were first introduced to the InlineColorPilot system with the XXL, and what impressed us most was the ability to calibrate the system, including print register, without needing to draw a sheet from the delivery,” said Byron Loeppky, Friesens Vice President and General Manager. “This saves us time and keeps press stability intact, reducing the overall make-ready waste and time,” The single key technology difference on the new press for Friesens is the addition of the optional LED UV upgrade. This will be its first entry into the UV market for an offset press. Up until now, Friesens had been a 100% conventional ink print shop in its Sheetfed Division.
“It was time we made the transition into LED UV,” said Steve Voth, Pressroom Manager of Friesens. “Although most of our work is produced on uncoated stock, the necessity for quicker job-turnarounds, running more unique papers that dry slowly, and obtaining some of the requested effects you can achieve when running LED UV, was crucial.” The Evolution has been awarded the most ergonomic press design to date of any modern platform, said the OEM. With the IntegrationPilotPlus operating system and over a hundred new design changes from the previous Manroland 41” press models, Friesens has taken its sheetfed offset capabilities to an entirely new level.
Friesens invests in Canada’s first Evolution R708P offset with LED technology from Manroland
