PRINTING United Expo Hot Products Spotlight: RMGT 970PF 8-Up+ Color Perfecting Press

(Editor's note: This review of the RMGT 970PF 8-Up+ Color Perfecting Press, which will debut at the upcoming PRINTING United Expo, is part of an ongoing series featuring longtime industry consultant David Zwang's rundown of his "Must See" products that will be on the show floor.)

This is not RGMT’s first time at the PRINTING United Expo; in fact, they have been bringing offset presses to North American printing shows for the last seven out of 10 years. However, this year they are going to be presenting the North American debut of the RGMT 970PF 8-Up+ Color Perfecting Press in their 50-foot-long booth!

RMGT 970PF 8-Up+ Color Perfecting Press

The 4/4 perfecting press supports a 25x38" format sheet and prints up to 15,000 sph. The press on display will be configured with RGMT LED UV curing technology — which Ryobi effectively invented for sheetfed presses, and introduced at drupa 2008 — along with Toyo inks and Panasonic lamps.

This press will have the RGMT ASAP system (Automatic Smart Assist Printing). In essence, this means that the press will run autonomously from job-to-job without any press operator intervention. As it becomes more difficult to get or train press operators, this level of automation is key! It works like this: while a job is printing, the pressman's responsibility is to put plates for the next job in the gates over top of each print unit. When that first job is completed, the press will automatically stop and then it will wash the blankets, the impression cylinders, eject the plates, pull in new plates, and start the next job. The model they will be exhibiting will go through that cycle in about 3 minutes, including the washing and setup.

As long as that pressman's got the plates in the gates, by the time that job is done, it will move to the next job, and can do that all day and night. The ASAP system enables the press to run with just one press operator.

To ensure consistent color and defect-free printing, the press is configured with full-sheet scanners that are not only scanning for registration and color, but also for imperfections. If they are on the blanket or plate and creates a hickey, water drop, or anything like that, the scanner monitors this throughout the whole run. If the system encounters any of those imperfections, the press will do one of two things: either shoot a tape of paper into the stack and then shoot it out again when that problem is gone. Or, if you're printing on a really high value substrate, like plastics, styrene and PET, you can set it so that if there's three hickeys in a row it stops, does a blanket wash, and starts printing, preventing expensive waste.

For color consistency, since it is sampling every sheet, the press is adjusting to your target density, so it makes any changes very fast. You won’t have to sneak up on your color if you overshoot it and then waste another 500 sheets.

They will be doing a live demonstrations and presentations every hour on the half hour throughout the show.