Addressing Finishing Bottlenecks in Package Printing

Automated changeovers promote short makeready times and greater consistency between operators. As an example, with Heidelberg's Diana folder-gluers, all lower carriers from pre-folder to the folding station are integrated into the AutoSet system for fully automatic makeready. Only a few blank parameters need to be entered for the machine settings to be calculated automatically. Machine control then relays the setting values to the digital position displays around the machine and the operator can activate the system. Since the machine moves the carriers in sequence from the feeder, rather than all at once, the operator can keep a close eye on the setup to ensure the carriers move smoothly into position. The operator also has the ability to make fine adjustments using the hand set, if necessary. The final machine position then can be re-stored into the memory for the next time the job is run.