Extra! Extra! Extra!

It may seem like an exaggeration that presses today are really that much more advanced than presses from a few years ago. However, they really are, Flathmann said.

There are many reasons for this. "The tooling changes associated with a specific job are reduced. The inventory of plate cylinders is vastly diminished, and replaced by less expensive sleeves. Gears are eliminated, as are keyways, splines, hubs, etc., reducing job costs further," he said. "Changeover times are decreased, enabling more throughput from a single machine. Increased press speeds also contribute to more throughput. Greater flexibility allows for the same machine to run short-run jobs more quickly, run wide-web jobs more easily, and run long-run jobs at higher speeds. This combination allows one machine to potentially be as efficient as two to three older presses, equaling their throughput, improving their print grade and quality, and increasing press speed—all while reducing waste and set-up times.