SCREEN SCORES FIRST HIGH SPEED DIGITAL INKJET WEB IN REGION AT ASTRA

Sydney, April 12th 2010 – Dainippon Screen (Australia) has become the first company to supply one of the new generation of high-speed digital inkjet web presses in the ANZ region.

Astra Printing of Wellington, New Zealand has commissioned a SCREEN Truepress Jet 520 digital web press primarily for printing books but also with a view to direct mail, catalogues and ultimately newspapers. The press was supplied through SCREEN’s New Zealand dealer, Fujifilm.

Commenting on his company’s acquisition, Astra CEO Steve Messenger said: “Shorter, cost-effective print runs on behalf of publishers deliver a distinct competitive edge, environmental benefits and dynamic service levels to our customers.In SCREEN’s Truepress Jet 520, we now have the technology to offer all of this to book, newspaper and magazine publishers - in full colour or mono – with crisp black text and excellent colour reproduction.”

Truepress Jet 520’s production speed is up to around 1,600 A4 pages per minute across its 520mm wide web, which equates to around 3,200 typical trade paperback book impressions of 135mm x 216mm. This is nearly 200,000 book pages per hour in duplex mode, making 1,250 x 160-page paperbacks in an hour. Post-press equipment consists of Hunkeler, CP Bourg and Ibis Smartbinder and Challenge three-knife trimmer.

Akira Hayakawa, Managing Director of SCREEN Australia says; “We are excited by the forward-looking and innovative vision of Astra Printing. While this is the first in the Oceania region, together with all versions, there are now around 200 Truepress 520s operating throughout the world – more than any other similar supplier. These are being used in all of the ideal applications for high-volume digital inkjet printing, namely, Transactional and Promotional documentation, Books, Manuals, Newspapers, Brochures, Instruction Leaflets, Catalogues and so on.”

The SCREEN Truepress Jet 520 digital web press is available in several versions as simplex or duplex (perfecting). Astra Printing’s is a twin-engine duplex colour machine configured at right-angles to conserve space. At IPEX 2010, SCREEN will extend its leadership in high-speed digital inkjet printing with the addition of the Truepress JetSX, a sheetfed B2 format duplexing press that is expected to create considerable excitement in the B2 offset segment.

Astra’s Steve Messenger concludes: “Perhaps the best aspect of our investment in SCREEN Truepress Jet 520, workflow and ancillary equipment is that it enables us to deliver a compelling economic model to our customers. As a long-established supplier to the Offset Litho industry, SCREEN does not charge a ‘click’ for each page that runs through the press. As with our offset presses, our costs are a known quantity. We buy paper, ink, power and finance costs; we have a service and parts agreement and the rest is under our control.”

SCREEN invites all IPEX visitors to see for themselves in Hall 10, stand C90 from 18-25 May in the UK.