Ten commercial printers in Europe have been or will soon be equipped with IDCm – InlineDensity Control motorized (IDCm) from manroland Web Systems. The system, developed by manroland and grapho metronic (Munich), is for narrow 16-page or 32-page commercial printing systems from the Rotoman and Lithoman series. IDCm is also a viable solution for third-party systems. The ink measuring technology and its retrofitting success involve three main benefits, according to Günter Braun from manroland Web Systems: “An optimal manning of the machine, quality assurance and quality documentation – and as a result, reduced waste. Printing systems with the latest in cutting-edge technology enable printers to have a competitive edge in the market. Regarding IDCm, the decisive factor is the plan-ability of the investment and the ROI. We’re in a position to calculate the savings on working hours and the production profits which would come about as a result of the switch-over to an automated ink measurement system from the existing manual system, in advance.” He added that most customers who capitalize on a retrofit of an older machine with IDCm are equipping themselves with an inline ink measurement system for the first time. Or, they’re replacing an older, discontinued system.
IDCm or IDC?
What’s the difference between IDCm and the system that has proved itself with over 5,000 measuring sensors, IDC (InlineDensity Control)? Whereas IDC uses stationary, positioned cameras in order to control the ink density on the basis of colour marks in a print control strip, IDCm uses a traversing measurement module. That achieves a low cost price and an easier, less complicated upgrade process. Just as with IDC, IDCm measures and controls ink metering to comply with given target resources in personnel, time and materials. When compared with IDC, IDCm has a longer adjustment speed and therefore controls the ink more slowly. But IDCm achieves the same measurement quality as IDC once the ink is set. One feature is common to both systems: The preset values improve themselves in these learning systems and are therefore the basis for PECOM and fine adjustment of the inking. As a general rule, IDCm does not need to be integrated within a PECOM-X environment and can work as a stand-alone solution. The bottom line, added manroland Web Systems, is that IDCm is ideal for cost-sensitive retrofit projects for ink density control and represents, at the same time, a promise of quality from the press manufacturer.
Commercial printers adopt ink density retrofit from manroland
