Proteus turns to Heidelberg

US folding carton converter Proteus Packaging has installed a seven-color 40in Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 105 offset printing press as it looks to offer flexibility to its customers for both large and small format work.
 
Proteus already had a 57in six-color Speedmaster 145 XL VLF press, which was installed in 2009. Both presses receive post-press support from a Dymatrix 145 die cutter and a Diana 115X folder gluer with Diana Packer from Heidelberg.

The 40in Speedmaster XL 105 (pictured, above) has been installed with Heidelberg Logistics. This fully integrated system has been developed to streamline the automated material workflow to the press. The system consists primarily of a modular roller conveyor system and non-stop automatic pile-changing system in the Preset Plus feeder and delivery resulting in fewer pallet changes, reduced production downtime and more flexible staffing.
 
With the addition of Prinect Inpress Control to monitor color and register on-the-fly at any speed, the Speedmaster XL 105 makes ready and achieves color quickly at the full-rated speed of 18,000sph.
 
Having trained intensively on an XL 105 at Heidelberg's North American Print and Packaging Technology Center while preparing to run the company's Speedmaster XL 145 XL VLF press (pictured, below), operators at Proteus were largely up to speed when the company's own XL 105 took its place in the folding carton converter’s Franklin, Wisconsin plant, enabling the company to move quickly into live production.

Tim Wayman (pictured, top), chief operating officer at Proteus Packaging, said: ‘We've become an all-Heidelberg shop. We used to have a pair of 50in presses from another manufacturer, then we got rid of one when we went to the 57in format with our Speedmaster XL 145.
 
‘That press is still our workhorse, but with the addition of the XL 105, we gain the built-in flexibility to offer our customers both large- and small-format work.’
 
The high-performance Diana X 115 folder gluer and Diana Packer packing system were installed in summer 2011 and have exceeded the company's expectations in every regard. Hallmarks of the technology include superior processing quality, short make-ready times, and outstanding ease-of-use in processing up to 200,000 cartons per hour, depending of the size of the blank. ‘What made sense for us, given the speed of the Diana X 115, was to put a packer on it to reduce the need for manual labor, and we're happy that we did,’ said Wayman.