2011 InterTech Awards for Technology Innovation

KBA Flying JobChange - KBA North America, Inc.
KBA’s Flying JobChange drastically reduces makeready time on sheetfed offset presses by allowing an operator to prepare the next job—changing plates on one or more units—while the press is running. At the conclusion of one job, the next immediately begins at 10,000 sheets per hour before accelerating up to production speed. Ideal applications for Flying JobChange are language versions on a six-color press, four and five-color jobs on long perfectors, and one-over-one work on a four-color press. Important automation solutions to facilitate this include Plate-Ident, a dot matrix code on the plate used to confirm that the correct plate is in the correct unit and Simultaneous Plate Change.