Kingston Carton orders ROLAND 706 LV DirectDrive Press

Hull-based packaging and folding carton company, Kingston Carton, has confirmed it has placed and order with manroland GB for a six-colour ROLAND 700 LV + coater DirectDrive press. The sale, which was confirmed during Northprint 2011, will be installed at the 94 year-old privately-owned packaging print operation this summer and will provide it with the flexibility to grow market share in the highly competitive on-demand and mirco-run sectors of the food and pharmaceutical packaging industries.

Says Arend Buitendam, Managing Director, Kingston Carton: "With greater demand for more specialised packaging, quicker make-readies and lower print runs becoming the accepted norm in our core sectors, we needed to ensure our next press investment would enable us to continue to compete effectively in this rapidly changing market."

"manroland's DirectDrive technology is extraordinary, and in all the trials we undertook it stood clearly above the competition. Today, we all know that even the smallest production enhancements make a big difference to profitability and efficiency, so, we believe the installation of such an impressive and innovative press technology like the DirectDrive is going to have a very significant, positive impact on our business. However, in addition to great technology, a packaging company also needs to be confident that it has a partner that can provide an outstanding level of service and support. We have always received this from manroland, and it was this experience that helped make the final decision for us."

The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive press is multi-tasking, multiple-award winning champion and the world's first offset litho press with an independent electronic drive on the plate cylinder and a patented double-clutch system. This dramatically reduces make-ready times, making it perfect for printers who require short run productivity with uncompromised printing quality. The unique DirectDrive technology means plate changing can be carried out simultaneously on 2 to 12 printing units at the same time other make-ready functions are being performed, offering "zero time" plate changing.

The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive also comes with a range of manroland's QuickChange modules as standard, including QuickChange Job, QuickChange Color and automated ink profiling. The new 706 LV will join an impressive production lineup at Kingston Carton, which already includes a ROLAND HiPrint 706 LV with both UV and infra red drying, as well as manroland's ColorPilot automatic on-press colour control solution.

Says John Wosley, Northern Sales Manager, manroland GB: "The ROLAND 700 DirectDrive now offers run lengths of up to 18,000 sph, a patented double-clutching system and simultaneous fully Automatic Plate Loading (APL®); ensuring zero time make-readies -taking make-ready time right out of the production equation. This combination printing speed and zero-time make-readies, effectively makes the DirectDrive peerless when it comes to on-demand, micro-run packaging production.

"As part of our Secrets of Profitable Print (www.secretsofprinting.com) initiative, which we launched at the end of 2010, we have made a very concerted effort over the last few months to ensure our customers really understand the considerable benefits of our unique DirectDrive technology, and as this order clearly demonstrates, this message is starting to gain real momentum in the market."

As part of the deal, manroland will also be upgrading Kingston Carton's existing ROLAND 700 HiPrint through its futureproof package, including converting the press to ColourMetrics, integrating a PilotPlus monitoring system and the retrofitting of a QuickChange clamp to the HiPrint's coating unit. Kingston Carton has also signed up to manroland's printservices ProServ maintenance contract and will be supplied with pressroom products from the manufacturer's printcom division.

Concludes Norman Revill, Managing Director, manroland GB: "This is a fantastic announcement to make on the back of a successful Northprint exhibition and it's very exciting to have now sold our first DirectDrive press in the UK packaging sector. Like all sectors of the print industry, packaging is experiencing the twin demands for lower, more cost effective run lengths and faster, more efficient productivity. This is exactly what our DirectDrive technology has been designed to achieve, and I'm sure it will enable Kingston Carton to increase its business in these competitive sectors, confident in the knowledge that it has a printing technology that can support even the most ambitious growth plans."